Canadian Singles, Slalom, Men

Two former Olympic champions, Slovakia’s Michal Martikán (1996) and France’s Tony Estanguet (2000) returned to the Games in 2004 in the hopes of nabbing another title in the C-1 slalom. Martikán was also the 2000 runner-up and had won the last two editions of the World Championships, while Estanguet had been the 2002 European and 2003 World runner-up. Mariusz Wieczorek of Poland and Tomáš Indruch of the Czech Republic were the 2002 and 2004 European champions respectively. Martikán, Estanguet, Wieczorek, and Indruch finished in the top four in the qualifying round, but Wieczorek was eliminated after a poor run in the first round of the final. Martikán and Estanguet again finished first and second, while Indruch was fifth and Germany’s Stefan Pfannmöller was third. In the second portion, Estanguet and Martikán finished third and fourth, with the former earning just enough points to defend his title and leave the Slovakian with another silver medal. Pfannmöller, meanwhile, had the highest score after the second run, but it was still only good enough to hang on to bronze.