Canoe Singles (C1), Slalom, Men

Two former Olympic champions in the C-1 slalom, Michal Martikán of Slovakia (1996) and Tony Estanguet of France (2000, 2004) were present for the event at the 2008 Summer Games and, at recent international tournaments, they had demonstrated that they had not passed the peak of their careers. Martikán was the 2007 and 2008 European and 2007 World Champion, as well as the 2006 European and World runner-up and the 2005 World bronze medalist. Estanguet, meanwhile, was the 2006 European and World Champion and the 2005 and 2007 World runner-up. Another strong contender was Rob Bell of Australia, the 2005 World Champion and 2007 bronze medalist.

Martikán came out on top of the standings in the qualification round, followed by Jan Benzien of Germany, the 2002 World runner-up and European bronze medalist, and Great Britain’s David Florence, while Estanguet and Bell were sixth and seventh respectively. The Beijing Olympics introduced a one-round semi-final for the remaining 12 participants, which Martikán won, while Estanguet was surprisingly eliminated alongside Benzien. Florence and Bell were fourth and fifth respectively, behind Martikán, Stanislav Ježek of the Czech Republic, and Poland’s Krzysztof Bieryt. Ježek was the 2006 World bronze medalist, as well as the 2008 European runner-up, while Bieryt was the 2004 European runner-up. These five men had the same rankings after the first run of the final, but Ježek and Bieryt were sixth and eighth respectively in the second run, allowing Florence and Bell to claim silver and bronze respectively behind Martikán, who regained his title after 12 years and without having lost a single round.