Whitewater Stadium hosts the men’s canoe single slalom (C1) semfinal and final on Tuesday, Aug. 9.
Men’s slalom canoe single
With the retirement of three-time Olympic canoe single slalom gold medalist Tony Estanguet and the absence of 2012 London bronze medalist Michal Martikan, who failed to make Slovakia’s Olympic team, the C1 gold medal anyone’s for the taking.
Germany’s Sideris Tasiadis took first in the C1 heats, finishing over a second faster than the next closest athlete with a time of 92.23 seconds. Denis Gargaud Chanut of France and David Florence of Great Britain finished second and third respectively.
Florence has three World Championship titles and two Olympic medals across singles and doubles canoe. He is set to compete in the semifinals of double canoe with Richard Hounslow as well.
Slovakia’s Matej Beneus actually finished the course in the fastest time (90.78 seconds) during the C1 heats, but accrued three two-second penalties to push him back to sixth place.
Two-time Olympian Casey Eichfeld of the United States qualified in eighth place and is looking for his first Olympic medal. At the 2012 London Games, he finished in 14th.