In the finals of the men's K-1 event of the 2007 Canoe/Kayak Slalom Open held at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park this afternoon, Julien Billaut of France beat a strong field to win the gold with 188.02 seconds. After the race, Julien Billaut said that winning the gold medal from such a tough competition meant a great deal to him. "The race was very hard," he said. "I'm very excited about winning the gold. I'll go and comfort my teammate Tony Estanguet, who was just now upset in the canoeing semifinals."

The racing course at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park are regarded by all paddlers as highly difficult with its challenging rapids, waves, eddies and currents. As Julien Billaut put it, "Of course, the conditions of the course is the same to everyone. We came here for training one week ago, each session lasting two hours every day. I think what we have achieved today is definitely inseparable from the painstaking efforts we have made."

Compared with Julien Billaut, teammate Tony Estanguet, winner of the men's C-1 in the last two Olympic Games, was not so lucky. Tony Estanguet broke his paddle in an earlier semifinal race in the men's C-1 event and had to bow out of the finals. For his teammate's misfortune, Julien Billaut said, "I knew what had happened to Tony. But I had no time to think too much of the accident. I must go all out in my race. Now that I've got the gold medal, I'll go back to tell Tony, to comfort him and then to celebrate it together with him."