GAINESVILLE, Ga. (Aug. 5, 2021) – Team USA's Nevin Harrison, who trains in Gainesville, has made history.
The 19-year-old's time of 45.935 seconds earned her the top spot in Thursday's single 200-meter canoe sprint, making her the first woman to win Olympic gold in that event. Harrison also took away an Olympic-best time, making her victory at the Tokyo Olympics that much sweeter.
Canada's Vincent-Lapointe Laurence won silver and Ukraine's Luzan Liumyla won bronze.
Afterward, Harrison spoke with NBC, and when asked how she did it, said, "I just told myself that this is it. This is all the work coming together. This is those 45 seconds that really matter this time, and I just gave it everything."
Harrison's race for gold began in 2019 at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships where she won the event at 17. She won again in 2020 to become a two-time world champion. Since then, Harrison has been training at Lake Lanier Olympic Park with Lanier Canoe and Kayak Club under Coach Zsolt Szadovski. The Seattle native was the only American canoe or kayak sprinter to qualify for the 2020 Olympics. Canoe sprint has been an Olympic event since 1936, but while women's events have been added over the years, they've all been in kayaking discipline.