Kayak Singles, 1,000 metres, Men

Due to the somewhat inconsistent results in the K-1 1000 over the past four years in major international championships, the field for the event at the 2004 Summer Olympics was relatively open. France’s Bâbak Amir-Tahmasseb, Norway’s Eirik Verås Larsen, New Zealand’s Ben Fouhy were the three most recent World Champions, but none of them had medalled at either of the tournaments that they did not win, although Larsen was the 2004 European champion and 2001 bronze medalist. Great Britain’s Tim Brabants was the 2002 European champion and 2004 runner-up, as well as the 2000 Olympic bronze medalist, while Javier Correa of Argentina had won the event at the last two editions of the Pan American Games and was runner-up at the 2001 and 2002 World Championships. Finally, Canada’s Adam Van Koeverden was the most recent World runner-up.

Larsen, Fouhy, and Brabants won their opening heats and qualified automatically for the final, with the latter doing so in Olympic record time while defeating Van Koeverden. Correa, meanwhile, was fourth in Fouhy’s heat while Amir-Tahmasseb was sixth in Larsen’s. Van Koeverden won one of the semi-final heats, eliminating Correa and Amir-Tahmasseb in the process, while Australia’s Nathan Baggaley, the 2003 World bronze medalist, took the other. Larsen took charge in the final and won gold over a second a half before Fouhy arrived for silver. The Norwegian would go on to win another medal, bronze in the K-2 1000, later that day. Van Koeverden, meanwhile, battled Baggaley down to the line and captured bronze by a mere 0.092 seconds. The Canadian would also go on to win another medal, but he would take gold in the K-1 500 the following day.