Canadian 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. Slovakia’s Michal Martikán was the 1996 Olympic and 1997 World Champion, but had come in third at the 1999 World Championships and second and fourth at the 1998 and 2000 European Championships respectively. Tony Estanguet and Emmanuel Brugvin, both of France, were the reigning European and World Champions respectively. Martikán and Estanguet were first and second in the qualifying round, while Brugvin was sixth. In the final, Estanguet had the best score after the first run, with Slovakia’s Juraj Minčík, the 2000 European runner-up, and Brugvin in second and third. Martikán, meanwhile, was fifth, behind Germany’s Stefan Pfannmöller. Martikán won the second run, but Estanguet, in third, scored enough points to keep him at the top of the podium and relegate the Slovakian to silver. German Sören Kaufmann, the 1995 World and 1996 European runner-up, was second in the final portion of the competition, but his ninth-place mark from the first round was too low to allow him to climb any higher than sixth, thus giving Minčík the bronze medal with his fourth-place finish.