The qualifying heats for men's single canoe and men's kayak took place today at Lee Valley White Water Centre in Hertfordshire. The top twelve canoeists advance to the semifinal round on Tuesday, while the top fifteen kayakers move on to their semis on Wednesday.
Michal Martikan of Slovakia, winner of Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2008 and Olympic silver medals in 2000 and 2004, appears ready to solidify his status as the greatest slalom canoeist ever as he laid down the best score among C1s with his second run. The C1 class results are here.
In K1, Hannes Aigner of Germany blazed down the course more than three and a half seconds faster than his nearest competitor, Samuel Hernanz of Spain. The results for K1 are here.
Failing to advance to the semifinal round were the two U.S. entries, Casey Eichfeld in C1 and Scott Parsons in K1. A two-second touch on his first run kept Eichfeld out of the semis, knocking him from tenth place back to 14th. Parsons finished 16th overall, just one position shy of advancement, to bring his third Olympics to a disappointing end. He also failed to move past the qualifying round in Beijing four years ago after finishing a respectable sixth in 2004.
Tomorrow, the men's double canoe class and the women's kayak class have their qualifying rounds.
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