Canoe Sprint: Ed McKeever books place in Saturday's final
Great Britain's Ed McKeever will compete for Olympic gold in the men's kayak single 200 metres final after securing qualification at Eton Dorney on Friday morning.
The 28-year-old, nicknamed the "Usain Bolt of kayaking", recorded an Olympic best time of 35.087seconds to qualify for the semi-finals, where he sealed pole position again with a time of 35.619secs to safely qualify for Saturday's final.
"It has been good. I have been on a good training camp, and I am looking forward to the final tomorrow," McKeever told BBC Sport. "It has been really frustrating watching everyone else from Great Britain going out there and winning medals.
"Hopefully, I will have more to come for tomorrow."
The Somerset-born kayaker will be among the favourites to take gold at Eton Dorney this weekend, but faces stiff competition from Mark de Jonge, in particular.
The Canadian won the first heat of the day, before recording a superb winning time of 35.595seconds in the semi-finals, pipping Spain's Saul Craviotto Rivero in a photo finish.
However, Poland's Piotr Siemionowski – the reigning world champion – will not compete after finishing back in sixth place.
The British contingent in the stands at Eton Dorney had further reason to celebrate as Jess Walker sealed her spot in the women's kayak singles 200m final.
The 22-year-old, from Brighton, finished fourth in her heat to scrape through to the semi-finals. But she produced a superb run when it really mattered: powering her way to a second-place finish behind Russia's Natalia Lobova – and guaranteeing her place in the final.
Walker will need to produce the sprint of her life, though, in order to beat the likes of Lobova and New Zealand's world champion Lisa Carrington.
Team GB's Liam Heath and Jon Schofield will also be in action on Saturday. In the semi-finals of the men's kayak doubles, the British duo finished second behind Russia's Yury Postrigay and Alexander Dyachenko, who crossed the line in just 32.051secs.
The Russian pair are set to be pushed all the way by Belarus duo Raman Piatrushenka and Vadzim Makhneu, who looked just as formidable in their victorious semi-final.
Meanwhile, Great Britain's Richard Jefferies missed out on a place in Saturday's canoe single 200m "B" final.
The 25-year-old produced a decent performance in the heats – qualifying in third place – but could only finish sixth in the semis.
Russia's Ivan Shtyl and Yuri Cheban of Ukraine both won their semi-finals in emphatic fashion – and are likely to feature prominently on the podium on Saturday.
Today at the Games
Fred Evans leads Team GB gold rush
Bahamas beat United States in men’s 4x400 metres relay
Lutalo Muhammad clinches bronze medal
GB women win bronze medal
Two silvers in 470 class
More Olympic heartache for Shanaze Reade
Tom Daley through to first round
Russia make men’s volleyball final
Medals table
Rob Swan – follow me on twitter
Join us on Facebook
Follow our Bettor Olympics updates on twitter
Olympics
Athletics: Nadzeya Ostapchuk stripped of gold medal
Belarusian shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk has been stripped of her Olympic gold medal after failing a doping test.
Boxing: Anthony Joshua wins gold in super-heavyweight final
Anthony Joshua could be the next big man in British boxing after he won the super-heavyweight title gold medal.
Modern Pentathlon: Murray silver is Team GB’s 65th medal
Samantha Murray secured Great Britain's 65th medal of London 2012 with yet another unlikely resurgence to claim silver.
