Canadian Singles, Slalom, Men

Going into London, the two favorites to take gold in the men’s C-1 slalom were Slovakia’s Michal Martikán and France’s Tony Estanguet; between them they had won every Olympic gold medal in the event since 1996. Martikán had taken it in 1996 and 2008 alongside silver medals in 2000 and 2004, making him the most decorated Olympic slalom competitor, and was the individual (1997, 2002, 2003, 2007) and team (1997, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2011) World Champion a total of nine times. Estanguet was Olympic Champion in 2000 and 2004 and World Champion for the individual event in 2006, 2009, and 2010, with team victories in 2005 and 2007. The hometown favorite for Britain was David Florence, who was ranked #1 in the discipline worldwide and had won silver in the event at the 2008 Games.

Martikán exited the preliminary rounds with the fastest time, but fell to fourth in the semi-finals in a round won by Germany’s Sideris Tasiadis. Florence hit a gate during this part of the event and incurred a two-second penalty to his time, enough to drop him from seventh place to tenth and outside of the advancing field. Martikán had a solid run in the final, but was overtaken by Estanguet, who won the event. An excellent run by Tasiadis earned him the silver medal, leaving the Slovakian competitor with bronze, the first time he had ever finished below runner-up in an Olympic tournament.