Kayak Singles, Slalom, Men

The format of the K-1 slalom had changed since the previous Olympics, as now the scores of both rounds, rather than just the best one, counted and there was a qualifying round prior to the final. Nonetheless one previous medalist, 1992 Olympic and 2000 European champion Pierpaolo Ferrazzi of Italy, elected to participate. Canadian David Ford was the reigning World Champion, while Paul Ratcliffe was the 1998 European champion. Ratcliffe placed the highest among all these three in the qualifying round, but was still behind Mathias Röthenmund of Switzerland and Thomas Schmidt of Germany. Ferrazzi was 11th and Ford was 22nd and thus suffered elimination. Schmidt was in first after the first run of the final, with Ferrazzi in second, Ratcliffe in third, and Röthenmund in ninth. Schmidt won the second run as well and thus guaranteed himself gold, while Slovenia’s Dejan Kralj was second. This was not sufficient to overcome his 12th-place run from the first round and thus Ratcliffe, who was third again, was able to claim the silver medal. Ferrazzi, meanwhile, was eighth but this was sufficient for him to earn bronze.