Kayak Fours (K4), 1,000 metres, Men

The Czech Republic’s bronze medal-winning squad from the 2012 Summer Olympics, Daniel Havel, Lukáš Trefil, Josef Dostál, and Jan Štěrba had been the most consistent competitors in the Men’s K-4 1000, having won the 2013, 2014, and 2015 European Championships and the 2014 World Championships, in addition to coming second in 2013 and third in 2015 at the Worlds. Defending Olympic champions and runners-up Australia and Hungary were also present in Rio, but with entirely different squads. In the intervening years, Australia had only managed bronze at the 2013 World Championships, while Hungary had captured bronze and silver in 2014 and 2015 respectively, in addition to bronze at the 2013 Europeans. Slovakia, meanwhile, was the reigning World and European Champion.

The Czechs posted the fastest time in the heats and qualified automatically for the final, alongside the Germans. Germany had not reached a major international podium in this event since 2011, but Max Hoff was a World Champion from that year and Max Rendschmidt and Marcus Groß had already won gold in the K-2 1000. Slovakia earned a victory in a relatively easy semifinal heat, while Hungary was eliminated in the other heat that was won by Australia. In the final, the Germans were in command the entire race, winning gold handily nearly three seconds ahead of the runners-up Slovakians. Australia, meanwhile, failed to defend its title and was bested by the Czech Republic in the race for the bronze medal. One member of the Czech team, Josef Dostál, had taken silver in the K-1 1000 earlier in the Games.