Men's Kayak Single (K1) 1000m
HOLMANN, ROBINSON Battle the Waters of Lake Lanier
In the first event of the Olympic sprint kayak competition, familiar names headlined the qualifiers for the semifinal races of the men's kayak single 1000m on Thursday, 1 August, as pre-Olympic favorites, Knut HOLMANN of Norway, Australia's Clint ROBINSON and Italy's Beniamino BONOMI all advanced. HOLMANN is the defending world champion and was silver medalist in the 1992 Olympic Games. ROBINSON is in the hunt for his second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the kayak single event as he dominated in Barcelona. The Australian finished second to the Norwegian in Duisburg. BONOMI finished 1.25 ahead of ROBINSON in the preliminary race and is familiar to victory on Lake Lanier as he captured top honors at the Lake Lanier Sprint Challenge last year.
During the afternoon repechage, Sebastian CUATTRIN of Brazil and Robert ERBAN of Slovakia took advantage of the "second chance" repechage race and won their respective heats to qualify for the men's kayak single 1000m semifinals on Saturday.
"The first 500 meters I started out slowly and controlled the other guys," said Italy's BONOMI. "In the final 500, I just pushed it. Hopefully the finals will be as easy as my race today."
DOKTOR the One to Beat in the Canoe Single
Martin DOKTOR of the Czech Republic posted a time of 4:19.918 to win the first heat of the men's canoe single 1000m event to go to the finals on Saturday and edged three-time Olympian Ivan KLEMENTYEV of Latvia to the semifinal races. DOKTOR had a first-place finish at the Lake Lanier Sprint Challenge and finished second at the 1995 World Championships. KLEMENTYEV was a gold medalist in the event in 1988 and captured the silver four years ago. The 34-year-old Latvian, one of the oldest competitors in the sprint events, had third-place finishes at the World Championships and Lake Lanier Sprint Challenge. Also advancing to the finals was Germany's Patrick SCHULZE who finished second to DOKTOR as well as Gyorgy ZALA of Hungary and Roman BUNDZ (UKR) placed first and second respectively in the second heat of the preliminaries. All other competitors advance to the semifinals on Thursday.
"I was nervous before my race because of everything going on, the late start and wind conditions," said Martin DOKTOR. "I have to put all of that out of my mind and think about my race or I will go crazy."
"The head wind was an advantage for me," said Hungary's Gyorgy ZALA. "I could use my technique better than the other guys in this race. I am a small competitor, so the wind didn't touch me so hard."
German Women Lead Hunt for Medals
The defending World Champions Germany will head to the finals of the women's kayak four event after winning their preliminary heat on Tuesday with a time of 1:37.895. The German foursome, Birgit FISCHER, Anett SCHUCK, Ramona PORTWICH and Manuela MUCKE are in the hunt for a gold medal to add to the silver they earned in Barcelona. The Chinese women took first in their heat to advance to the finals as did Switzerland and Sweden who finished second in their respective heats. Denied a chance to move to the finals were pre-Olympic favorites Hungary and Canada. Hungary are the defending gold medals in the event while Canada had the top performance at the Lake Lanier Sprint Challenge. Canada and Hungary will join the remaining boats in the semifinals.
"It was close to the Swedish team, but we were going well," said Germany's Ramona PORTWICH. "I'm glad that we won this race. This is giving motivation for the final. I love the venue site here and I am happy that I may compete here."
German Men One Step Closer to Defend Olympic Gold Medal
Pre-Olympic favorites Kay BLUHM and Torsten GUTSCHE of Germany took first in the preliminaries of the men's kayak double 1000m advancing to Thursday's semifinals with a time 3:39.388. The duo placed second at the 1995 World Championships to the Italian double of Antonio ROSSI and Daniele SCARPA who also advanced to the semifinals after their commanding 4-second win in their heat of the men's kayak double. The Italians have a "home course advantage" as they won the Lake Lanier Sprint Challenge last year. The Danish twosome of Thor NIELSEN and Jesper STAAL, who took second at the Sprint Challenge, also advance to the semifinals as well as the boats from Great Britain, Poland, Bulgaria, Australia, France and Hungary.
Argentina and United States each qualified boats for Thursday's semifinals with top finishes in the afternoon repechages for the men's kayak double 1000m event. With a time of 3:34.424, the United States brought the crowd to its feet ousting Slovakia for the top spot in the heat by only .012.
"There was no pressure for us out there," said Italy's Daniele SCARPA, of Italy's nearly uncontested preliminary race. "It just confirmed our top finishes of last year."
Romanians, Germans Set for Finals
The Romanian duo of Marcel GLAVAN and Antonel BORSAN will head to Saturday's finals after their win in the preliminary race of the men's canoe double 1000m. With a time of 4:06.48, the Romanians outpaced the Hungarian pair by 2.23 seconds to place first in the heat. GLAVAN and BORSAN finished second at the World Championships in Duisburg in 1995 and at the Lake Lanier Sprint Challenge, took fourth. Hungary will also advance to the finals. The German team of Andreas DITTMER and Gunas KIRCHBACH kept it close in their heat, edging Great Britain for the top spot by a mere .412. Germany placed second at the world championships and third at the Sprint Challenge and will hope to carry on the German domination and defend the country's gold medal that fellow countrymen, Ulrich PAPKE and Ingo SPELLY earned in Barcelona.
"We felt well the whole race," said Germany's Andreas DITTMER. "In the middle it became hard because the head wind turned to the right side and we had to care for our direction. We hope to win a medal in the final, maybe gold."
Germany Continues Reign During Olympic Sprint Opening Day
The Germans continued to prove it will be the one's to beat in the Olympic sprint canoe/kayak events as they qualified their third boat for Saturday's finals with their top finish in the men's kayak four 1000m event. The team of Thomas REINECK, Mark ZABEL, Detlef HOFMANN and Olaf WINTER, led from start to finish to win by a margin of 3.2 over the Russians, who also advance to Saturday's finals action. The Germans with Rene PFLUGMACHER are the defending Olympic gold medalists and World Title holders; however, WINTER has replaced PFLUGMACHER in the boat for the Olympic competition. The four was the sixth German boat of the day to advance to either the semifinals or finals in the Regatta. Other teams qualifying for the finals in the men's kayak four 1000m were Hungary and Poland.
"It was a good race for us," commented Thomas REINECK of Germany. "Our start was well and we came down here without problems. The only problem is the hard wind because the waves brought water into our boat."
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