Benjamin Savsek took gold for Slovenia in the men's canoe slalom, ahead of Lukas Rohan of the Czech Republic and Germany's Sideris Tasiadis.

TOKYO, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Benjamin Savsek on Monday became the first athlete from Slovenia to claim a canoeing Olympic gold medal, winning the men's canoe slalom at the Kasai Canoe Slalom Center.

Savsek finished the final in 98.25 seconds.

The Slovenian finished eighth at London 2012 and sixth at Rio 2016. Before coming to Tokyo, he had set his sights on winning a medal.

"I was trying before, but now I'm really happy to put on a really good run in the final. I'm living my dream," he said.

"It was hard work from the 2012 Olympic Games in London [onwards]. Every time I was aiming high, but never did well in the finals," he added. "Now I really focused just on my last run. I hoped to do it clean, and I'm really happy to keep a good focus from start to finish this time."

Savsek won Slovenia its sixth Olympic gold medal in any sport, becoming the nation's first athlete to do so in the canoe slalom.

"I am really proud because in our discipline we have been waiting for this medal a long time and it is the first gold medal for canoe slalom. I am really happy and proud," he said.

Lukas Rohan of the Czech Republic claimed silver in 101.96 seconds, following in the footsteps of his father Jiri Rohan, who took silver in the canoe slalom at the 1992 and 1996 Games.

"It's great. The rest of this day it will be hard for me to believe it," Rohan said of winning his silver medal.

"It was really great. It was without any big mistakes, so I'm really happy because the course was really hard today, and the conditions here in Tokyo are so hard for us, for everyone," he added.

The bronze medal went to Sideris Tasiadis of Germany in 103.70 seconds. He became the first paddler to win multiple Olympic medals for Germany in the canoe slalom, as he had claimed a silver medal at the 2012 London Games.

"I am really happy to win, here, my second Olympic medal. I really enjoy this time. It is now nine years since my last Olympic medal and it was a long way until here," said Tasiadis.

"It is a special one," he added. "To come here with world ranking No. 1 and to win a medal after a lot of pressure, I am really happy about that."