Men's Kayak Single (K1) 500m
Defending gold medalist and World Champion advance
Despite an uncharacteristic third-place finish in the preliminary race of the men's kayak single 500m, defending Olympic gold medalist Mikko KOLEHMAINEN of Finland earned a spot in the semifinals on Friday, 2 August. Antonio ROSSI of Italy took first in the heat with a time of 1:40.411, while Germany's Lutz LIWOWSKI finished behind ROSSI in second, .668 off the lead pace. ROSSI will pull double duty in the sprint competition as he is a member of Italy's kayak double 500m team which qualified for the semifinals Tuesday. Also advancing to the semifinals in the men's kayak single 500m was current world champion Piotr MARKIEWICZ of Poland who took second in his race to Romanian Geza MAGYAR, third-place finisher in Duisburg in 1995. Knut HOLMANN of Norway, who captured the bronze medal in the K1 500m in Barcelona, and will look to add a gold medal to his collection. He will head to the semifinals as a result of his top preliminary finish. Other paddlers qualifying for Friday's races were Sergey KALESNIK of Bulgaria, Cameron MCFADZEAN of Australia and Spain's Miguel GARCIA.
KOLEHMAINEN, HOLMANN, and LIWOWSKI also qualified for the semifinals in the K1 1000m during yesterday's competition.
"I feel good but it is too early to tell what will happen in the finals," said Italy's Antonio ROSSI. "In the rowing, I saw a lot of people who were expected to do well, finish fourth or even worse. After a heat it is difficult to say who will win."
In the afternoon repechages of the men's kayak single 500m, Slovakia's Robert Erban and Bulgaria's Petar MERKOV were the top finishers in the two races to advance to the semifinals on Friday. Other boats to advance from the repechage were the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Hungary, Russia and the Ukraine.
Close races advance four to finals
Martin DOKTOR of the Czech Republic advanced to the finals of the men's canoe single 500m event, as he prevailed in his preliminary heat with a time of 1:52.907. DOKKTOR finished just .064 ahead of Slovakian Slavomir KNAZOVICKY who will also bypass the semifinals and head to the finals on Sunday. Left to race in the semifinals is the defending Olympic gold medalist in the event and world champion, Nikolay BUKHALOV (BUL) who finished fifth in the heat, 1.82 off the Czech's pace. DOKTOR took second to BUKHALOV in Duisburg but the tables turned at the Lake Lanier Sprint Challenge as DOKTOR took first and the Bulgarian placed second. In the second heat, Thomas ZERESKE of Germany and Imre PULAI of Hungry, finished first and second, respectively to qualify for the medal finals. ZERESKE kept the Germany sweep hopes alive as he qualified the eighth German boat of the regatta for either the semifinals or finals.
"I wanted to be first or second to reach the final directly," said Martin DOKTOR. "I had a good start and then I could control the race."
Koban in hunt for her fifth Olympic medal
Hungary's Rita KOBAN, the six-time world champion, continues to hold the title as the "best in the world." With her second-place finish in her preliminary of the women's kayak single 500 meters, KOBAN took one step closer to achieving her fifth Olympic medal. Koban captured the silver in 1992 in the single event and bronze in 1988. Italy's Josefa IDEM outlasted KOBAN by .12 to rank first in the heat, while Sweden's Susanne GUNNARSSON finished third to advance to Friday's semifinals. GUNNARSSON is the bronze medalist from the 1995 World Championships. Germany's Birgit FISCHER will be in the hunt for her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event, and with her top-three finish in the preliminary, is keeping the dream in reach as she advanced to the semifinals. Other boats to qualify for the semifinals of the women's kayak single 500m included Austria, Canada, Australia, Republic of South Africa and Spain.
"There were the best women in the race so I paddled fast at the beginning, " said Germany's Birgit FISCHER. "At the end, when nobody could attack my third position, I could slow down a little bit to save energy for the next race."
The afternoon repechages advanced nine boats more to the semifinals of the women's kayak single 500m on Friday. Ingrid HARALAMOW of Switzerland landed first in her race with a time of 1:57.891 to edge Poland's Aneta PASTUSZKA. Sayuri MARUYAMA of Japan notched a .056 win over Great Britain's Andrea DALLAWAY to also earn a trip to the semifinals. Joining the four top finishers for the semifinals are Belgium, China, France, Israel and the United States.
Favorites Italy, Germany, and Hungary take first in heats to advance
The defending Olympic gold medalist German duo of Kay BLUHM and Torsten GUTSCHE advanced to the semifinals of the men's kayak double 500m event with their top finish in the preliminaries. World champions Beniamino BONOMI and Daniele SCARPA of Italy sprinted to a time of 1:31.49 to capture the win in their heat of the men's kayak double 500m event, a one-second victory over the Polish team, who will also advance to the semifinals. Zsolt GYULAY and Krisztian BARTFAI of Hungary, top finishers in the Lake Lanier Sprint Challenge last year, also took first in their heat to qualify for action on Friday. The pre-Olympic favorite threesome will be joined by Poland, Spain, Australia, Russia, Romania and the United States in the semifinals.
Hungary's Zsolt GYULAY on their top finish at Lake Lanier last year: "It was an advantage for us today. We knew the course and the conditions. It is different because there was a tail wind last year and now there is always a head wind."
Andrian DUSHEV and Milko KAZANOV of Bulgaria outlasted the Swedes to capture the top spot in the afternoon repechage of the men's kayak double 500m as the two teams will head to Friday's semifinal action. The Danish boat of Thor NIELSEN and Jesper STAAL defeated the Czech Republic by .70 to win their repechage and advance to the semifinals on Friday. NIELSEN and STAAL also qualified for the men's kayak double 1000m during Tuesday's preliminary races. Other countries to qualify boats for the men's kayak double 500m event were Lithuania, Uzbekistan, Portugal, Argentina and Belgium.
Defending World Champions take easy trip to semifinals
The Hungarian team of Gyorgy KOLONICS and Csaba HORVATH, defending World champions, posted a decisive win in the men's canoe double 500m preliminary race with a time of 1:43.907, to head to Friday's semifinal races. Other top medal contenders to qualify for the semifinals were the twosome from Republic of Moldova, Mikolai JURAVSCHI and Victor RENEISCHI, silver medalist from Duisburg and double Olympic champions in 1988, as well as the German team of Andreas DITTMER and Gunar KIRCHBACH, who finished third to Hungary and Moldova at the world championships. The German boat also placed first at the Lake Lanier Sprint Challenge last year. Spain, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Italy all posted top-three finishes in the preliminaries to qualify boats for the semifinals of the men's C2 500m.
"This was a good race," said Nikolai JURAVSKI of Moldova. "We did our training especially for the 500m, so we were not successful at the 1000m. We will try to catch the gold medal again on Sunday."
The Canadian brothers of Attila and Tamas BUDAY posted a time of 1:49.820 to take first place in the repechage of the men's canoe double 500m event and headline the list of nine boats to qualify for the semifinals during the "second chance" races. The Bulgarian duo of Aleksandr MASEYKOV and Dmitriy DOVGALYONOK won their repechage to advance as well. Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Korea, Slovakia, Poland, Croatia and Kazakstan will all race during Friday's semifinals as a result of their top finishes during the afternoon repechages.
Germany qualifies in K2 500m to make it 12 of 12 for German boats
With their win in the first heat of the women's kayak double 500m, Germans Birgit FISCHER and Ramona PORTWICH completed a perfect record for their home country in the sprint events. Germany qualified all of its boats for either semifinal or final races in all 12-medal events. PORTWICH is a defending Olympic gold medalist in this event as she and partner Anke VON SECK also won in Barcelona. The silver medalists in 1992, Sweden's Agneta ANDERSSON and Susanne GUNNARSSON, also advanced to the semifinals at Lake Lanier with their top finish in the preliminary of the K2 500m event. Hungary's Rita KOBAN and Szilvia MEDNYANSZKI rounded out the group of three favorites in the event to advance. KOBAN and teammate Eva DONUSE captured the bronze in Barcelona. KOBAN is in search of her fifth Olympic medal in these Olympic Games. Other countries to qualify boats in the K2 500m event were Poland, Belarus, Spain, Portugal, Australia and Canada.
"I hope to medal," said KOBAN of her goals for the Olympic Games. "If I do my job the best I can, then I will be successful."
France's Sabine KLEINHENZ and Severine LOYAU sprinted to a time of 1:51.417, to edge the United States duo of Deanne HEMMENS and LIA ROUSSET for the top spot in the first repechage of the women's kayak double 500m. The Russian women, Natalya GULIY and Larisa KOSORUKOVA won their race by one second over the Chinese to qualify for the semifinals. The final five boats to advance were the Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Bulgaria and Great Britain.
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