(UPDATES with quotes)

Yuriy Cheban of the Ukraine took the Olympic canoe sprint gold medal in the men's 200 meters on Saturday.

Cheban, a Beijing bronze medalist in the 1,500 meters event, blasted out at the start and maintained his lead to take gold in 42.291 seconds.

"It's fantastic to win a gold medal. I just want to thank everybody who helped me," said the Ukrainian before going to collect his country's fourth gold of the Olympics.

"First I'm going to collect my medal and then I will try and get some souvenirs. I would really like to talk to my girlfriend as well."

The silver went to Jevgenij Shuklin of Lithuania, who timed 42.291, with Russia's six-time world champion Ivan Shtyl taking bronze in 42.853.

"It was my dream to win Olympic gold," said Shuklin. "But I hope that I can do that in Rio," he added, referring to the next Summer Games in 2016.

Shtyl, meanwhile, was upbeat.

"It was fantastic, these weather conditions helped me a bit. I've trained with the weather and it was a help."