The flagship boats have delivered again: The German men’s kayak four has once again been crowned Olympic champions in Paris. Before that, the women’s four had paddled to silver.
When Max Rendschmidt, Tom Liebscher-Lucz, Max Lemke and Jakob Schopf crossed the finish line in the 500-meter final on Thursday (08/08/2024), the cheers were still subdued. The German quartet had to wait anxious seconds before the millimeter decision was made: With a lead of just four hundredths of a second, the German kayak foursome prevailed in a photo finish ahead of Australia after 1:19.80 minutes, repeating its Olympic victory from Tokyo 2021. Spain won bronze. “A damn awesome race,” said Liebscher-Lucz happily afterwards. “We went into the final with confidence. In the end, it doesn’t matter that it was millimeters. Gold is gold.”
All results from the canoe sprint arrow right
German foursome defies false start and strong competition
The flagship boat of the German Canoe Association (DKV) was once again the big favorite going into the competitions in the water sports stadium in Vaires-sur-Marne. The strength of the competition was already apparent in the semi-finals, when Australia beat the German Olympic record from the preliminary round. But even a false start at the beginning of the race was not enough to throw the German foursome off course. In the second half of the sprint course, the German boat pushed forward and finally prevailed against the Australians in the final sprint.
The German kayak foursome had already won gold at the World Championships last year. In 2021, Rendschmidt, Liebscher-Lucz and Lemke secured gold in Tokyo together with the now retired Ronald Rauhe. Schopf was new for the latter and beamed as he received his first gold medal. The race was “a summary of the last three years,” said the 25-year-old. Years “that had ups and downs. We had a lot to deal with and worked through it constructively and were rewarded.”
For Rendschmidt, it was already the fourth gold medal at the Olympics. “This gold feels the best,” said the 30-year-old with a smile. “But every medal has its special moments. It wasn’t easy, but we managed it well.” The architect of the success, national coach Arndt Hanisch, also saw it that way. “It was a fantastic race. We had a plan in place and it worked. We’re going to enjoy it now.”
German women’s foursome wins silver
Hanisch had already celebrated her first success of the day, after the German women won silver in the 500-meter kayak four. The quartet of Paulina Paszek, Jule Marie Hake, Pauline Jagsch and Sarah Brüssler, who started as outsiders, were only beaten by New Zealand and exceptional athlete Lisa Carrington in 1:32.62 minutes. Hungary won bronze.
The German quartet was even in the lead at one point, and at the finish line they were only 0.42 seconds away from the first Olympic victory in this discipline since 2008 in Beijing. At the last Summer Games in Tokyo, the K4 remained without a medal for the first time since 1984; in the meantime, there had been five Olympic victories and three second places.
Silver over 500 meters – women’s kayak four celebrates
Shortly after the race, the cheering was loud. Hake said that they could not yet realize what they had achieved beforehand. “That will only come when we are on the winner’s podium.” After the races in the kayak two-man team on Friday, they would then celebrate the success extensively, promised Jagsch.
Kretschmer/Hecker go home empty-handed
Peter Kretschmer and Tim Hecker, however, narrowly missed out on a medal in the Canadian pairs. The German duo came in fifth in the 500-meter final after a time of 1:41.62 minutes. In the end, they were six tenths short of bronze. Last year, the duo had secured the world championship title. Gold went to China with Hao Liu/Bowen Ji, silver went to the Italians Carlo Tacchini/Gabriele Casadei ahead of the Hungarians Jonatan Daniel Hajdu/Balasz Adolf.
“Of course you’re disappointed when you don’t win a medal as world champion,” said Kretschmer. It was “probably our last dance together,” added Hecker. Kretschmer won Olympic gold in London in 2012 together with Kurt Kuschela. Hecker won bronze with Sebastian Brendel three years ago in Tokyo.
The two-man Canadian final with Hecker/Kretschmer
Jahn and Jakob fail in the quarterfinals
In the women’s single canoe, Lisa Jahn and Maike Jakob missed the semi-finals. Jahn finished her heat over 200 meters in third place and had to take a detour via the quarter-finals. One of the top two places would have meant a place in the semi-finals, but the 30-year-old only finished in fifth place. Jahn had already missed the semi-finals in the double canoe with Hedi Kliemke on Tuesday.
Shortly afterwards, Jakob also had to throw in the towel in her Olympic debut. After finishing last in the preliminary round, the 18-year-old did not manage to get past sixth place in the quarter-finals. Jakob was only added to the German squad at short notice after the German Canoe Association (DKV) decided to move one of the six kayak quota places to the Canadian canoe.
Canoe Sprint: various heats and finals in re-live
More medals await
The medal rain could continue as early as Friday. The duos Rendschmidt/Liebscher-Lucz and Schopf/Lemke are also among the top favorites for medals in the two-man event. The same applies to the women. There is no way past the German athletes, especially in the kayak area. The singles also made a good impression. “We don’t have to stretch ourselves,” promised Schopf. Teammate Rendschmidt immediately followed up with a challenge: “We’ll continue tomorrow. Then we’ll attack again.”
And then there is Brendel, the three-time Olympic Canadian champion, who is attempting another attempt at the podium at what could be his last Summer Games. The 36-year-old, who failed in the semi-finals of the single sculls in Tokyo, will start the race on Friday with a lot of self-confidence after his commanding preliminary victory on his favorite event, the 1000 m.
