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Kayak Doubles, 500 metres, Women

Date7 – 8 August 2012
StatusOlympic
LocationEton Dorney, Windsor
Participants34 from 17 countries

As holders of the last two Olympic titles, Hungarians Katalin Kovács and Natasa Douchev-Janics were the team to beat in the women’s K-2 500 at the 2012 Summer Olympics and each had an outstanding record in sprint canoeing. Douchev-Janics was also the winner of the K-1 500 at the 2004 Olympics and had a silver medal from the K-4 500 in 2008, but her record at the World Championships was even more impressive: 22 medals, 18 of which were gold, since 2002. She had taken 2011 off while pregnant, but returned in full form the following season, winning the K-1 and K-2 500m at the 2012 European Championships. Astonishingly, however, Douchev-Janics’ record paled in comparison to her partner’s: Kovács had six Olympics medals, two gold and four silver, and 40 medals, 31 of them gold, at the World Championships, spanning back to 1998. Her pace had not slowed in recent years either, as she had earned two gold medals at the most recent World Championships and three more at the 2011 European Championships. The German duo of Franziska Weber and Tina Dietze had shown some promise in recent years and were perhaps best poised to challenge their canoeing rivals, the Hungarians. They were runners-up in the K-2 500 at the most recent World Championships, losing to the Austrians, but had had a strong season in the lead up the Olympics, whereas the Austrian duo of Yvonne Schuring and Vicki Schwarz had waned somewhat.

A surprise came in the heats when the unknown Chinese team of Wu Yanan and Zhou Yu posted a time of over half a second faster than the Hungarians. The Chinese team were held back to a still-impressive third-fastest time in the semi-finals, while the Hungarians were outclassed once again, this time by the Germans. In the finals, Weber and Dietze held nothing back and led through the entire race, with the Hungarians unable to match them at any point in the course. The Germans thus broke Kovács and Douchev-Janics’ streak in this event, getting their revenge on Kovács who, with her squad, had earned the Olympic K-4 500 title the day before, which had been held by the Germans since 1996. Hungary was forced to settle for sliver while Poland, paddled by Karolina Naja and Beata Mikołajczyk, edged out China for the bronze by 0.136 seconds. It was Naja’s first Olympic medal and a second for Mikołajczyk, who had been runner up in the event in 2008 alongside Aneta Pastuszka-Konieczna.

PosNumberPairNOCR1SFFinal
1124/112Franziska Weber / Tina DietzeGER1:44.195 (2 h2)1:41.543 (1 h1)1:42.213 (1 h1)Gold
2132/127Katalin Kovács / Natasa Dusev-JanicsHUN1:43.984 (1 h3)1:41.613 (2 h1)1:43.278 (2 h1)Silver
3172/171Karolina Naja / Beata MikołajczykPOL1:48.271 (5 h3)1:41.873 (3 h1)1:44.000 (3 h1)Bronze
458/62Wu Yanan / Zhou YuCHN1:43.448 (1 h2)1:41.863 (1 h2)1:44.136 (4 h1)
521/22Yvonne Schuring / Vicki SchwarzAUT1:46.374 (4 h3)1:42.317 (2 h2)1:44.785 (5 h1)
6180/175Joana Vasconcelos / Beatriz GomesPOR1:44.660 (2 h3)1:43.305 (3 h2)1:44.924 (6 h1)
7161/166Lisa Carrington / Erin TaylorNZL1:44.870 (3 h3)1:42.764 (4 h1)1:46.290 (7 h1)
8219/220Nikolina Moldovan / Olivera MoldovanSRB1:44.335 (3 h2)1:43.586 (4 h2)1:48.941 (8 h1)
932/36Volha Khudzenka / Maryna PautaranBLR1:44.568 (4 h2)1:43.152 (5 h1)1:44.407 (1 h2)
10238/236Josefin Nordlöw / Karin JohanssonSWE1:44.437 (1 h1)1:44.025 (6 h1)1:45.367 (2 h2)
11102/107Abigail Edmonds / Louisa SawersGBR1:46.564 (5 h1)1:46.025 (7 h1)1:46.341 (3 h2)
1210/11Naomi Flood / Lyndsie FogartyAUS1:46.554 (4 h1)1:45.372 (7 h2)1:47.650 (4 h2)
13230/231Ivana Kmeťová / Martina KohlováSVK1:45.073 (5 h2)1:43.653 (5 h2)1:47.683 (5 h2)
1469/67Yulitza Meneses / Dayexi GandarelaCUB1:46.587 (6 h1)1:51.428 (8 h2)1:50.124 (6 h2)
15197/208Nataliya Lobova / Vera SobetovaRUS1:45.710 (2 h1)1:44.660 (6 h2)1:52.277 (7 h2)
16190/185Iuliana Paleu / Irina LauricROU1:46.001 (3 h1)1:49.216 (8 h1)1:52.468 (8 h2)
17145/147Shinobu Kitamoto / Asumi OhmuraJPN1:47.323 (6 h2)

Round One

Date7 August 2012 — 10:35
FormatTop five in each heat and fastest number six advanced to semi-finals.

Heat #1

Time10:35
PosLanePairNOCTime250 m250-500 m Time750-1,000 m Rank
13Josefin Nordlöw / Karin JohanssonSWE1:44.43749.23 (1)55.2005Q
26Nataliya Lobova / Vera SobetovaRUS1:45.71051.36 (3)54.3502Q
34Iuliana Paleu / Irina LauricROU1:46.00150.31 (2)55.6906Q
45Naomi Flood / Lyndsie FogartyAUS1:46.55452.31 (6)54.2401Q
57Abigail Edmonds / Louisa SawersGBR1:46.56451.76 (4)54.8004Q
62Yulitza Meneses / Dayexi GandarelaCUB1:46.58752.04 (5)54.5403q

Heat #2

Time10:42
PosLanePairNOCTime250 m250-500 m Time750-1,000 m Rank
14Wu Yanan / Zhou YuCHN1:43.44849.73 (1)53.7102Q
25Franziska Weber / Tina DietzeGER1:44.19550.02 (2)54.1704Q
33Nikolina Moldovan / Olivera MoldovanSRB1:44.33550.88 (5)53.4501Q
42Volha Khudzenka / Maryna PautaranBLR1:44.56850.58 (3)53.9803Q
56Ivana Kmeťová / Martina KohlováSVK1:45.07350.79 (4)54.2805Q
67Shinobu Kitamoto / Asumi OhmuraJPN1:47.32351.81 (6)55.5106

Heat #3

Time10:49
PosLanePairNOCTime250 m250-500 m Time750-1,000 m Rank
14Katalin Kovács / Natasa Dusev-JanicsHUN1:43.98450.95 (2)53.0301Q
23Joana Vasconcelos / Beatriz GomesPOR1:44.66050.86 (1)53.8003Q
36Lisa Carrington / Erin TaylorNZL1:44.87051.46 (3)53.4102Q
47Yvonne Schuring / Vicki SchwarzAUT1:46.37451.55 (4)54.8204Q
55Karolina Naja / Beata MikołajczykPOL1:48.27151.85 (5)56.4205Q

Semi-Finals

Date7 August 2012 — 11:51
FormatTop four in each heat advanced to final. Places 5-8 advanced to final B.

Heat #1

Time11:51
PosLanePairNOCTime250 m250-500 m Time750-1,000 m Rank
16Franziska Weber / Tina DietzeGER1:41.54348.87 (1)52.6704Q
24Katalin Kovács / Natasa Dusev-JanicsHUN1:41.61349.22 (2)52.3902Q
38Karolina Naja / Beata MikołajczykPOL1:41.87349.81 (4)52.0601Q
43Lisa Carrington / Erin TaylorNZL1:42.76450.11 (5)52.6503Q
52Volha Khudzenka / Maryna PautaranBLR1:43.15249.64 (3)53.5105QB
65Josefin Nordlöw / Karin JohanssonSWE1:44.02550.20 (6)53.8206QB
71Abigail Edmonds / Louisa SawersGBR1:46.02550.71 (7)55.3107QB
87Iuliana Paleu / Irina LauricROU1:49.21651.20 (8)58.0108QB

Heat #2

Time11:58
PosLanePairNOCTime250 m250-500 m Time750-1,000 m Rank
15Wu Yanan / Zhou YuCHN1:41.86349.80 (3)52.0601Q
27Yvonne Schuring / Vicki SchwarzAUT1:42.31749.59 (1)52.7202Q
36Joana Vasconcelos / Beatriz GomesPOR1:43.30549.68 (2)53.6205Q
43Nikolina Moldovan / Olivera MoldovanSRB1:43.58650.03 (5)53.5504Q
51Ivana Kmeťová / Martina KohlováSVK1:43.65349.90 (4)53.7506QB
64Nataliya Lobova / Vera SobetovaRUS1:44.66050.58 (6)54.0807QB
72Naomi Flood / Lyndsie FogartyAUS1:45.37252.20 (7)53.1703QB
88Yulitza Meneses / Dayexi GandarelaCUB1:51.42853.00 (8)58.4208QB

Final Round

Date8 August 2012 — 10:35

Final A

Time10:35
PosLanePairNOCTime250 m250-500 m Time750-1,000 m Rank
15Franziska Weber / Tina DietzeGER1:42.21349.31 (2)52.9001
23Katalin Kovács / Natasa Dusev-JanicsHUN1:43.27849.22 (1)54.0504
37Karolina Naja / Beata MikołajczykPOL1:44.00049.50 (3)54.5005
44Wu Yanan / Zhou YuCHN1:44.13650.94 (5)53.1902
56Yvonne Schuring / Vicki SchwarzAUT1:44.78551.15 (6)53.6303
62Joana Vasconcelos / Beatriz GomesPOR1:44.92450.33 (4)54.5906
71Lisa Carrington / Erin TaylorNZL1:46.29051.42 (7)54.8707
88Nikolina Moldovan / Olivera MoldovanSRB1:48.94151.97 (8)56.9708

Final B

Time10:42
PosLanePairNOCTime250 m250-500 m Time750-1,000 m Rank
15Volha Khudzenka / Maryna PautaranBLR1:44.40750.54 (1)53.8601
23Josefin Nordlöw / Karin JohanssonSWE1:45.36751.33 (2)54.0303
37Abigail Edmonds / Louisa SawersGBR1:46.34152.23 (4)54.1104
42Naomi Flood / Lyndsie FogartyAUS1:47.65053.68 (7)53.9702
54Ivana Kmeťová / Martina KohlováSVK1:47.68352.32 (5)55.3605
68Yulitza Meneses / Dayexi GandarelaCUB1:50.12453.77 (8)56.3506
76Nataliya Lobova / Vera SobetovaRUS1:52.27751.99 (3)1:00.2808
81Iuliana Paleu / Irina LauricROU1:52.46852.93 (6)59.5307