Canadian Doubles, 500 metres, Men

Hungary’s János Sarusi Kis and István Vaskuti, the latter of whom was a 1980 Olympic champion, had won the C-2 500 at the 1985 and 1986 World Championships, but the Polish duo of Marek Dopierała and Marek Łbik, the 1985 runners-up, had stolen that title in 1987. Poland won its heat in the opening round, but Hungary came in third to Alexander Schuck and Thomas Zereske of East Germany and the Soviet Union’s Victor Reneischi and Nicolae Juravschi. Bulgaria’s Deyan Bonev and Petar Bozhilov took a third heat. East Germany won its heat again in the semi-finals, but Poland was defeated by the Soviet Union and Bulgaria came in third to Hungary and Philippe Renaud and Joël Bettin of France. The Soviet Union won the gold medal in the final in Olympic record time and became double Olympic champions the next day when they won the C-2 1000. The race for silver came down to a battle between France and Poland, with the latter emerging victorious by a margin of only 0.2 seconds. Poland too would win another Olympic medal in the C-2 1000, but theirs would be bronze.