Saturday, August 23, 2008 - 10:15 PM

Australian kayaker Ken Wallace has won Australia's 13th gold medal of the Beijing Games with victory in the men's K1 500 metres.

Wallace, who yesterday won bronze in the 1,000m event, was second at the 250m mark but produced a blistering back-half performance to overtake Canadian Adam van Koeverden in the final 100 metres.

The 25-year-old Wallace finished in a time of one minute and 37.252 seconds, just .378 ahead of van Koeverden.

"I am ecstatic, I didn't really know where I was," Wallace said.

"After the finish line I didn't really want to look but I'm so happy."

Van Koeverden went in as the defending champion and Wallace knew he would be extremely tough to beat.

"Adam's one of those really, really tough guys. You give him an inch and he's all over you," he said.

"I wish that the finish line came faster, the buoys just got from white to red and that's sort of what happens to your body.

"That's how I was feeling."

Briton Tim Brabants, the winner of the 1,000m, took bronze in 1:37.671.

It is Australia's first gold medal in the K1 500m since it was introduced at the 1976 Montreal Games.

Prior to today Australia's best result was silver, with Nathan Baggaley (2004) and John Sumegi (1980) falling short of gold.

In the men's K2 500m, gold went to Spain with Germany taking silver and Belarus bronze.

China took out the men's C2 500m while Maxim Opalev of Russia won the C1.