Canadian Singles, 1,000 metres, Men

Ivans Klementjevs had won the C-1 1000 for the Soviet Union at the last Olympics and the three most recent World Championships and, competing for Latvia at the 1992 Summer Olympics, was the favorite to defend his title. Bulgaria’s Nikolay Buhalov, the 1988 Olympic bronze medalist and the most recent World runner-up, also returned to the Games in the hopes of improving his performance. In the opening round, however, it was 1991 World bronze medalist Matthias Röder of Germany who set an Olympic record, while Klementjevs was third behind him and Pascal Sylvoz of France. Buhalov, meanwhile, lost his heat to Canadian Steve Giles, while Hungary’s György Zala took the third one. Röder, Buhalov, Klementjevs, and Zala all met in the semi-finals and finished in that order, while Giles was runner-up to Sylvoz in the other heat. In the final, however, Buhalov took control of the race and left silver for Klementjevs, who in turn was a safe distance ahead of Zala, the bronze medalist. It was the Bulgaria’s second upset against a former Soviet favorite, as he had won the C-1 500 against the favored Mykhailo Slivinsky the previous day.