These are the results of the men's C-1 1000 metres competition in canoeing at the 2004 Summer Olympics. The C-1 event is raced by single-man sprint canoes.
The 19 competitors first raced in three heats. The first-place finishers from each of the heats advanced directly to the final, and the remaining 16 canoers moved on to the two semifinal races. The heats were raced on August 23.
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | width=60 | 3:52.922 | QF | ||
| 2 | 3:55.590 | QS | |||
| 3 | 3:56.962 | QS | |||
| 4 | 3:57.070 | QS | |||
| 5 | 4:04.402 | QS | |||
| 6 | 4:05.874 | QS | |||
| 7 | 4:27.662 | QS | |||
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3:50.091 | QF | ||
| 2 | 3:52.451 | QS | ||
| 3 | 3:53.723 | QS | ||
| 4 | 4:00.559 | QS | ||
| 5 | 4:02.159 | QS | ||
| 6 | 4:27.115 | QS | ||
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3.48.690 | QF | |||
| 2 | 3:49.029 | QS | |||
| 3 | 3:54.250 | QS | |||
| 4 | 3:57.290 | QS | |||
| 5 | 4:00.486 | QS | |||
| 6 | 4:00.637 | QS |
The top three finishers in each of the two semifinals advanced to the finals, joining the three canoers who had moved directly from the heats. All other canoers were eliminated. The semifinals were raced on August 25.
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=30 | 1. | align=left athlete | Martin Doktor | align=left athlete | width=60 | 3:51.812 | QF | |
| 2. | align=left athlete | Attila Vajda | align=left athlete | 3:52.236 | QF | |||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Marián Ostrčil | align=left athlete | 3:53.820 | QF | |||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Andreas Kiligkaridis | align=left athlete | 3:55.608 | ||||
| 5. | align=left athlete | Mitică Pricop | align=left athlete | 3:59.640 | ||||
| 6. | align=left athlete | Jing Ying | align=left athlete | 4:00.684 | ||||
| 7. | align=left athlete | Darwin Correa | align=left athlete | 4:22.096 | ||||
| 8. | align=left athlete | Jonnathan Tafra | align=left athlete | 4:22.644 |
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | align=left athlete | Stephen Giles | align=left athlete | 3:51.720 | QF | |
| 2. | align=left athlete | Karel Aguilar Chacon | align=left athlete | 3:52.260 | QF | |
| 3. | align=left athlete | Dagnis Vinogradovs | align=left athlete | 3:53.656 | QF | |
| 4. | align=left athlete | Aliaksandr Zhukouski | align=left athlete | 3:55.456 | ||
| 5. | align=left athlete | Kaissar Nurmaganbetov | align=left athlete | 3:57.804 | ||
| 6. | align=left athlete | Stanimir Atanasov | align=left athlete | 4:05.664 | ||
| 7. | align=left athlete | Emanuel Horvaticek | align=left athlete | 4:24.604 | ||
| 8. | align=left athlete | Yuriy Cheban | align=left athlete | DSQ |
Cheban was disqualified for not appearing in boat control after the race.
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=30 | align=left athlete | David Cal | align=left athlete | width=60 | 3:46.201 | |||
| align=left athlete | Andreas Dittmer | align=left athlete | 3:46.721 | |||||
| align=left athlete | Attila Vajda | align=left athlete | 3:49.025 | |||||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Martin Doktor | align=left athlete | 3:50.405 | ||||
| 5. | align=left athlete | Stephen Giles | align=left athlete | 3:51.457 | ||||
| 6. | align=left athlete | Dagnis Vinogradovs | align=left athlete | 3:53.537 | ||||
| 7. | align=left athlete | Marián Ostrčil | align=left athlete | 3:54.629 | ||||
| 8. | align=left athlete | Karel Aguilar Chacon | align=left athlete | 3:54.957 | ||||
| 9. | align=left athlete | Konstantin Fomichev | align=left athlete | 3:55.773 |
Dittmer got off to a quick lead, but Cal took the lead in an early surge to open a one-second gap at the 500 meter mark. The German tried to close the gap to the Spaniard, but Cal held on to win the gold. Also, the top four finishers of this event would win gold in this event between 1996 and 2008 (Cal - this event, Dittmer - 2000, Doktor - 1996, and Vajda - 2008).