London 2012 Kayak: McKeever gives Britain kayak sprint gold

Great Britain's Ed McKeever seized Olympic gold in the men's single kayak 200m sprint on Saturday with a dominant victory in the final at Eton Dorney.

McKeever, 28, led from the start as he powered over the K1 line ahead of Spain's Saul Craviotto and bronze medallist Mark de Jonge of Canada.

McKeever punched the air in triumph, but admitted his overwhelming feeling was one of relief.

"Just relief," he said. "It sounds strange. Not elation, more relief and so happy I could do it in front of the home crowd, it's brilliant."

McKeever said the race, run in a head wind that made it seem longer, was "really painful".

"I was really just focused on the first two or three strokes and I wanted to nail those and get out cleanly," he said.

In two other men's finals on Saturday, Yuri Cheban of Ukraine won the men's single canoe 200m, ahead of Lithuania's Jevgenij Shulkin with Russian Ivan Shtyl taking bronze.

Russia's Yury Postrigay and Alexander Dyachenko teamed up to win gold for Russia in the men's double kayak 200m, with Raman Piatrushenka and Vadzim Makhneu of Belarus taking silver and Britain's Liam Heath and Jon Schofield earning bronze.

New Zealand's Lisa Carrington won the women's single kayak 200m ahead of Ukraine's Inna Osypenko-Radomska with Hungary's Natasa Douchev-Janics third.

Osypenko-Radomska also won silver in the 500m single kayak, while Douchev-Janics earned silver in the double kayak 500m.