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| Event type

Single Sculls, Men

Date13 – 19 October 1968
StatusOlympic
LocationPista Olímpico Virgilio Uribe, Canal de Cuemanco, Xochimilco
Participants17 from 17 countries

The retirement of Vyacheslav Ivanov of the Soviet Union, winner of the single sculls event at the last three Olympics, left the field at the 1968 edition more open than it had been for many years, particularly as each major international tournament had a different reigning champion. For the European Championships it was Achim Hill, who had won silver medals for a unified German team at the past two Olympics, as well as the 1966 Diamond Challenge Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta, and was now seeking the top spot for East Germany. The world champion, Donald Spero of the United States, was not present in Mexico City and his nation was represented by John Van Blom, but the Pan American champion, Argentina’s Alberto Demiddi, did attend. Great Britain, meanwhile, sent the runner-up from the Diamond Challenge Sculls, Kenneth Dwan, instead of winner Hugh Wardell-Yerburgh. Also notable were Canada’s Roger Jackson, a 1964 Olympic champion in the coxless pairs, and Czechoslovakia’s Václav Kozák, a 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the double sculls. Ivanov’s successor, meanwhile, was the relatively untested Viktor Melnikov.

The fastest time in the opening round, however, went to Jan Wienese of the Netherlands, bronze medalist at the last two editions of the European Championships and runner-up at the 1966 World Championships. The other heat winners were Jochen Meißner of West Germany, the 1965 European Champion, 1966 World silver medalist, and the 1967 runner-up in the Diamond Challenge Sculls, who had been considered a slight favorite prior to the Games, and the relatively unknown Niels Henry Secher of Denmark, whose time was beaten in other heats by Hill and Demiddi. Wienese and Hill took their heats in the semi-finals, although Demiddi in Wienese’s heat had a faster time than Hill. Melnikov, Kozák, Jackson, and Secher, meanwhile, were all eliminated for having failed to finish within the top six, which was rounded out by Van Blom, Meißner, and Dwan. In the final, Wienese moved to the front just after the first half and remained there for the rest of the race, winning by a comfortable margin of over four seconds. Meißner, therefore, settled for silver well ahead of Demiddi, whose bronze was an improvement on his fourth-place finish from the 1964 Games. Wienese had thus won the Netherlands’ first Olympic gold medal in rowing since 1924.

PosCompetitorNOC
1Jan WieneseNEDGold
2Jochen MeißnerFRGSilver
3Alberto DemiddiARGBronze
4John Van BlomUSA
5Achim HillGDR
6Kenneth DwanGBR
7Zdzisław BromekPOL
8Niels Henry SecherDEN
9Václav KozákTCH
10Manfred KrausbarAUT
11Roger JacksonCAN
DNS r4/4Viktor MelnikovURS
4 h1 r2/4Claude DehombreuxBEL
4 h2 r2/4Tsugio ItoJPN
5 h1 r2/4Eugen PetracheROU
6 h1 r2/4Heriberto MartínezCUB
DNS h2 r2/4Hans RuckstuhlSUI

Round One

Date13 October 1968
FormatTop two finishers in each heat advanced to semi-finals

Heat #1

Time10:30
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime500 m1,000 m1,500 m500-1,000 m1,000-1,500 m1,500-2,000 m
11Jochen MeißnerFRG7:45.801:45.17 (1)3:42.10 (1)5:44.0 (1)1:56.93 (1)2:01.90 (1)2:01.80 (3)Q
25Alberto DemiddiARG7:49.781:50.54 (4)3:52.12 (4)5:54.03 (3)2:01.58 (4)2:01.91 (2)1:55.75 (1)Q
33Manfred KrausbarAUT7:55.701:47.47 (2)3:48.31 (2)5:53.13 (2)2:00.84 (3)2:04.82 (4)2:02.57 (4)
44Václav KozákTCH7:59.931:55.57 (6)3:57.63 (6)6:00.31 (5)2:02.06 (5)2:02.68 (3)1:59.62 (2)
52Zdzisław BromekPOL8:06.611:52.51 (5)3:56.05 (5)6:03.40 (6)2:03.54 (6)2:07.35 (5)2:03.21 (5)
66Tsugio ItoJPN8:10.001:49.96 (3)3:50.64 (3)5:59.79 (4)2:00.68 (2)2:09.15 (6)2:10.21 (6)

Heat #2

Time10:45
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime500 m1,000 m1,500 m500-1,000 m1,000-1,500 m1,500-2,000 m
12Niels Henry SecherDEN7:51.451:44.54 (1)3:44.17 (1)5:49.33 (1)1:59.63 (4)2:05.16 (3)2:02.12 (1)Q
26Roger JacksonCAN7:55.881:50.89 (4)3:49.92 (4)5:52.33 (3)1:59.03 (3)2:02.41 (1)2:03.55 (2)Q
34Viktor MelnikovURS8:03.291:52.35 (5)3:50.85 (5)5:54.11 (4)1:58.50 (2)2:03.26 (2)2:09.18 (4)
41Eugen PetracheROU8:05.331:47.59 (3)3:49.31 (3)5:58.61 (5)2:01.72 (6)2:09.30 (6)2:06.72 (3)
53Hans RuckstuhlSUI8:08.901:46.68 (2)3:45.02 (2)5:50.96 (2)1:58.34 (1)2:05.94 (4)2:17.94 (6)
65Heriberto MartínezCUB8:14.201:55.02 (6)3:55.50 (6)6:03.37 (6)2:00.48 (5)2:07.87 (5)2:10.83 (5)

Heat #3

Time11:00
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime500 m1,000 m1,500 m500-1,000 m1,000-1,500 m1,500-2,000 m
15Jan WieneseNED7:44.921:50.55 (1)3:50.06 (1)5:44.79 (1)1:59.51 (3)1:54.73 (1)2:00.13 (2)Q
23Achim HillGDR7:47.231:52.84 (4)3:52.10 (3)5:50.19 (2)1:59.26 (1)1:58.09 (2)1:57.04 (1)Q
32John Van BlomUSA7:54.791:51.78 (3)3:51.23 (2)5:52.07 (3)1:59.45 (2)2:00.84 (3)2:02.72 (3)
44Kenneth DwanGBR8:03.951:51.16 (2)3:52.39 (4)5:56.85 (4)2:01.23 (4)2:04.46 (4)2:07.10 (4)
51Claude DehombreuxBEL8:19.411:54.17 (5)4:00.18 (5)6:09.49 (5)2:06.01 (5)2:09.31 (5)2:09.92 (5)

Round One Repêchage

Date15 October 1968
FormatTop three finishers in each heat advanced to semi-finals

Heat #1

Time9:45
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime500 m1,000 m1,500 m500-1,000 m1,000-1,500 m1,500-2,000 m
11John Van BlomUSA7:43.001:45.66 (3)3:38.07 (1)5:37.54 (1)1:52.41 (1)1:59.47 (2)2:05.46 (3)Q
22Manfred KrausbarAUT7:46.651:44.68 (1)3:40.24 (2)5:42.06 (3)1:55.56 (3)2:01.82 (4)2:04.59 (1)Q
35Zdzisław BromekPOL7:48.681:47.49 (4)3:42.16 (3)5:39.28 (2)1:54.67 (2)1:57.12 (1)2:09.40 (4)Q
43Claude DehombreuxBEL7:54.981:48.92 (5)3:48.21 (5)5:49.86 (5)1:59.29 (5)2:01.65 (3)2:05.12 (2)
56Eugen PetracheROU8:02.941:45.29 (2)3:43.79 (4)5:45.64 (4)1:58.50 (4)2:01.85 (5)2:17.30 (6)
64Heriberto MartínezCUB8:20.921:55.15 (6)3:55.71 (6)6:04.17 (6)2:00.56 (6)2:08.46 (6)2:16.75 (5)

Heat #2

Time10:00
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime500 m1,000 m1,500 m500-1,000 m1,000-1,500 m1,500-2,000 m
13Kenneth DwanGBR7:41.981:45.52 (1)3:41.68 (2)5:41.52 (1)1:56.16 (2)1:59.84 (1)2:00.46 (1)Q
22Viktor MelnikovURS7:46.861:47.29 (2)3:46.01 (3)5:46.25 (2)1:58.72 (3)2:00.24 (2)2:00.61 (2)Q
34Václav KozákTCH7:49.931:48.69 (3)3:38.04 (1)5:47.46 (3)1:49.35 (1)2:09.42 (4)2:02.47 (3)Q
41Tsugio ItoJPN7:58.081:50.88 (4)3:49.94 (4)5:50.83 (4)1:59.06 (4)2:00.89 (3)2:07.25 (4)

Semi-Finals

Date17 October 1968
FormatTop three finishers in each heat advanced to final

Heat #1

Time11:30
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime500 m1,000 m1,500 m500-1,000 m1,000-1,500 m1,500-2,000 m
13Achim HillGDR7:48.561:50.80 (4)3:46.65 (2)5:49.86 (2)1:55.85 (1)2:03.21 (1)1:58.70 (1)Q
22Jochen MeißnerFRG7:51.261:46.66 (1)3:43.84 (1)5:48.50 (1)1:57.18 (2)2:04.66 (4)2:02.76 (3)Q
34Kenneth DwanGBR7:55.901:52.18 (5)3:52.92 (5)5:56.17 (4)2:00.74 (5)2:03.25 (2)1:59.73 (2)Q
45Václav KozákTCH8:01.811:55.29 (6)3:53.98 (6)5:57.91 (5)1:58.69 (3)2:03.93 (3)2:03.90 (4)
56Niels Henry SecherDEN8:17.641:49.05 (2)3:49.68 (3)5:55.37 (3)2:00.63 (4)2:05.69 (5)2:22.27 (6)
61Manfred KrausbarAUT8:19.411:49.84 (3)3:51.07 (4)6:03.72 (6)2:01.23 (6)2:12.65 (6)2:15.69 (5)

Heat #2

Time11:45
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime500 m1,000 m1,500 m500-1,000 m1,000-1,500 m1,500-2,000 m
14Jan WieneseNED7:45.481:49.62 (2)3:51.82 (2)5:48.45 (1)2:02.20 (1)1:56.63 (1)1:57.03 (4)Q
26Alberto DemiddiARG7:47.981:48.42 (1)3:51.48 (1)5:52.17 (2)2:03.06 (2)2:00.69 (2)1:55.81 (3)Q
35John Van BlomUSA7:49.851:51.60 (3)3:55.46 (3)5:57.43 (4)2:03.86 (4)2:01.97 (5)1:52.42 (1)Q
41Viktor MelnikovURS7:50.301:51.91 (4)3:55.75 (4)5:56.91 (3)2:03.84 (3)2:01.16 (3)1:53.39 (2)
52Roger JacksonCAN8:10.641:54.30 (5)4:00.20 (5)6:02.06 (5)2:05.90 (6)2:01.86 (4)2:08.58 (6)
63Zdzisław BromekPOL8:13.921:54.59 (6)4:00.46 (6)6:07.42 (6)2:05.87 (5)2:06.96 (6)2:06.50 (5)

Final Round

Date18 – 19 October 1968

Final A

Time19 October 1968 — 12:08
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime500 m1,000 m1,500 m500-1,000 m1,000-1,500 m1,500-2,000 m
14Jan WieneseNED7:47.801:53.98 (2)3:55.55 (2)5:53.20 (1)2:01.57 (1)1:57.65 (2)1:54.60 (1)
21Jochen MeißnerFRG7:52.001:52.78 (1)3:54.47 (1)5:54.81 (2)2:01.69 (3)2:00.34 (3)1:57.19 (3)
32Alberto DemiddiARG7:57.191:56.67 (4)3:59.70 (4)5:56.06 (3)2:03.03 (4)1:56.36 (1)2:01.13 (5)
46John Van BlomUSA8:00.511:57.72 (5)4:02.43 (5)6:05.76 (5)2:04.71 (5)2:03.33 (4)1:54.75 (2)
53Achim HillGDR8:06.091:56.26 (3)3:57.86 (3)6:01.28 (4)2:01.60 (2)2:03.42 (5)2:04.81 (6)
65Kenneth DwanGBR8:13.761:58.08 (6)4:06.30 (6)6:13.41 (6)2:08.22 (6)2:07.11 (6)2:00.35 (4)

Final B

Time18 October 1968 — 18:10
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime500 m1,000 m1,500 m500-1,000 m1,000-1,500 m1,500-2,000 m
13Zdzisław BromekPOL7:38.881:44.99 (3)3:44.08 (3)5:45.33 (1)1:59.09 (1)2:01.25 (3)1:53.55 (2)
22Niels Henry SecherDEN7:43.471:42.86 (2)3:43.69 (2)5:50.64 (3)2:00.83 (4)2:06.95 (5)1:52.83 (1)
31Václav KozákTCH7:45.811:50.79 (5)3:50.75 (5)5:51.51 (5)1:59.96 (2)2:00.76 (1)1:54.30 (3)
46Manfred KrausbarAUT7:46.191:42.18 (1)3:42.63 (1)5:47.15 (2)2:00.45 (3)2:04.52 (4)1:59.04 (5)
54Roger JacksonCAN7:48.051:48.28 (4)3:50.01 (4)5:51.18 (4)2:01.73 (5)2:01.17 (2)1:56.87 (4)
DNSViktor MelnikovURS– (–)– (–)– (–)– (–)– (–)– (–)