Stone's Adam Burgess finally achieves his Olympic medal dream

Burgess, a member of Stafford and Stone canoe club, ensured there would be no repeat of that heartbreak this time around.

Only France’s Nicolos Gestin, the fastest man throughout the competition who beat the rest of the field by more than five seconds in the final, could deny him gold.

For Burgess, the colour of the medal did not matter as realised a dream born when he first sat in a canoe at the age of 10.

“It was what I was thinking about in the start pool, I just wanted to do that kid proud that dreamt of this moment,” he said. “I just went out there and gave it my all and here we are.”

Burgess certainly gave it his all. Since missing out on bronze in Japan by just 0.16 seconds, he has become an advocate of yoga and breathwork, naming his build-up to the Games “Project Send It” and determined to finish his second Olympics with no regrets.

Having qualified second quickest during the weekend’s opening round, he posted the fourth fastest time in the semi-finals.

Slovakia’s Matej Benus was the man to beat when Burgess began his final run and he was ahead at the first time check.

Yet halfway down the run, disaster seemed to have struck. Burgess made an error and was suddenly more than a second down on Benus at that point.

Cue a fantastic comeback which saw him make up the ground over the final stretch and cross the line with the quickest time so far by nearly two-tenths of a second.

Open-mouthed, Burgess barely believe it and then, perhaps remembering what happened three summers ago, he crossed the fingers of both hands. There were still three men left to go.

Fittingly, he did not have to wait long to learn his fate. Germany’s Sideris Tasiadis, the next competitor down, could not match his time and Burgess was guaranteed a medal. When Spain’s Miquel Tarve then incurred a two-second time penalty for hitting a gate, the worst Burgess could finish was second.

It then came down to Gestin’s run and in front of a raucous crowd he did not flinch, flying to victory.

Burgess, his family watching from the stands, did not care too much. Tokyo can now be forgotten. Paris is now his story.

That run had it all. It had a bit of style at the top and I was doing really good, really relaxed.

“Then I caught my edge, big support stroke and my heart was in my mouth, as I’m sure it was for everyone watching on TV but I stayed upright,” he said. “I really couldn’t believe it. There’s been so many times in races where I’ve not taken my opportunity and where a mistake like that put me off the podium, or turn into more mistakes.

“I held it together and to see me go into first with just a few boats to go was absolutely magic.”

“I was trying not to think about it too much,” he then replied, when asked if he had thought of Tokyo yesterday morning.

“It was a big part of my story to go again and earn that spot in Paris but very much this was its own story.”