Living up to the billing of "Usain Bolt on Water" is a bit daunting for unassuming British kayaker Ed McKeever.

After all, the reticent man from England's West Country does not put his finger to his lips to quiet any critics that might be lurking. He does not mug for cameras, either.

What he does is win.

Yesterday, McKeever surged to the gold medal in his sport's fastest, newest and most exciting Olympic event, the 200-meter K-1. And that makes it a little easier for him to acknowledge the talk of Bolt in a Boat.

"To be honest, I ignored it for most of the time, dismissed it. But luckily I have one of these now," said McKeever, wafting the gold medal in front of him with a half-smile. "I'm more willing to accept it now."

Even British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was at Dorney Lake with his family to witness the host nation win its 26th gold of the games, knew of the comparisons between Bolt and McKeever, who thrashed and splashed his way to victory in 36.246 seconds.

"I had. I'd read about him. He's pretty quick isn't he?" Cameron said as he crossed a bridge near the finish line. "He's worked at it incredibly hard and there must have been enormous pressure to deliver on the day. There's such a short amount of time to get it right and he absolutely did."

With Britain also winning a bronze in the last of the morning's four finals — the 200-meter K-2 — home fans left a Dorney Lake venue that has been a happy hunting ground for the British at the Olympics. The rowing was also held here and Britain finished as the top nation, winning three golds, two silvers and three bronzes.

In canoe sprint, it was Hungary that led the way for the first time since 2000. Natasa Douchev-Janics' bronze in the K-1 200, which was by New Zealand's Lisa Carrington, on Saturday was Hungary's sixth medal of the regatta — the same as longtime rival Germany.

Both countries also won three golds each but Hungary's two silvers saw the canoe-mad country finish above the Germans.

Carrington, the current world champion and a distant niece of former All Blacks rugby winger Ken Carrington, became New Zealand's first female medalist in the sport.

In the two other finals, Yuri Cheban of Ukraine led from start to finish to win the C-1 200, adding to the world title he captured in 2009. And Yury Postrigay and Alexander Dyachenko won the K-2 200, capping a breakthrough year for the Russian pair.

The London Games marked the first time 200-meter races had been staged at an Olympics, replacing the 500 for men following a landmark decision in 2010 by the International Canoe Federation to change the Olympic program. With explosive starts and tight finishes, the shorter sprints proved to be a crowd-pleaser.

Hungary and Germany have long been the dominant forces in canoe sprint, but they have been forced to take a back seat in the 200 in world and European finals in recent years. The theme continued yesterday.

Britain can legitimately now claim to have the fastest paddler in the world in McKeever, the 28-year-old trainee accountant who has put his wedding plans on hold until next month to chase Olympic gold.

McKeever is known to have a quick start and he produced one when it mattered here, giving himself a crucial early lead over rivals Mark de Jonge of Canada and Saul Craviotto Rivero of Spain.

"I just stuck my head down and got on with it," said McKeever, who was a journeyman paddler over 500 and 1,000 meters before the introduction of the 200 to the Olympic program changed his life.

Roared on by a 20,000-strong crowd, McKeever settled into his rhythm of three strokes per second and finished 0.25 seconds ahead of Craviotto Rivero. De Jonge, whose Olympic hopes almost evaporated in April when he dropped an 80-pound dumbbell on his left hand in the gym, beat France's Maxim Beaumont to bronze by three-hundreths of a second.

It was Canada's third medal of the regatta, after a silver to Adam van Koeverden in the K-1 1,000 and a bronze to Mark Oldershaw in the C-1 1,000.

Carrington's victory denied Douchev-Janics, one of Hungary's greatest ever paddlers, a fourth Olympic title. On Thursday, Douchev-Janics also missed out on a third straight gold in the K-2 500, when Germany edged her and Katalin Kovacs into silver.

Douchev-Janics may not be going to Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Games but McKeever is certainly planning on being there.

He has the little matter of a wedding to attend to first. His fiancee, Anya, was in the crowd and was reduced to tears by her husband-to-be's performance.