Kayaker Kalganov fails to reach finals of 500-meter

Kolganov finished fourth in semi-final, raising hopes that he could win a medal, but his effort came up short.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
kolganov 88 (photo credit: )
kolganov 88
(photo credit: )
Israeli kayaker Michael Kolganov ended his Olympic competition on Thursday when he failed to reach the final of the 500-meter competition. Kolganov had finished fourth in the semi-final, raising hopes that he could win a medal, but his effort came up short. The veteran sportsman started strong in the first 200 meters but then slowed down and finished 4th in his semi-final heat in a time of 1:43:145 minutes. Kolganov failed to advance to the final of the K1 1,000 meters competition on Wednesday, clocking a poor time of 3:43.10 minutes to finish second to last in his semifinal heat and 14th out of the 18 semifinalists. "The 1,000m race is new territory for me this year. This is only the third time I have raced this distance in 2008," said Kolganov, who won the bronze in the 500m competition in Sydney eight years ago, but failed to make the final in Athens in 2004. "I'm very happy to be at the Olympics and I'm optimistic about my chances," he said on Wednesday.