Canoeing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's K-2 1000 metres explained

Event:	Men's K-2 1000 metres
Games:	2020 Summer
Venue:	Sea Forest Waterway
Dates:	4 August 2021 (heats and quarterfinal) 5 August 2021 (semifinal & final)
Competitors:	32 (16 boats)
Nations:	14
Win Value:	3:15.280
Gold:	Jean van der Westhuyzen Thomas Green
Goldnoc:	AUS
Silver:	Max Hoff Jacob Schopf
Silvernoc:	GER
Bronze:	Josef Dostál Radek Šlouf
Bronzenoc:	CZE
Longnames:	yes
Prev:	2016

The men's K-2 1000 metres sprint canoeing event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 4 and 5 August 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway.^[1] At least 20 canoeists (10 boats of 2) from at least 10 nations competed.^[2]

Background

This was the 20th appearance of the event, one of four events that have been held at every Summer Olympics since the introduction of canoeing in 1936.

The reigning World Champions are Max Hoff and Jacob Schopf of Germany, who have been named to the German team.^[3] The reigning Olympic champions are Max Rendschmidt and Marcus Gross, also of Germany; Rendschmidt has been named to the team, but Gross has not.^[3]

Qualification

See main article: Canoeing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification.

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could qualify one place in the event, though could enter up to 2 boats if it earned enough quota places through other men's kayak events. A total of 13 qualification places were available, initially allocated as follows:

6 places awarded through the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships
3 places awarded to 3 continents (excluding Europe) through the World Championships, which are then competed for at continental tournaments
1 place awarded through a European continental tournament

Qualifying places were awarded to the NOC, not to the individual canoeist who earned the place.^[2]

The three continental spots were awarded to the Americas (#14 Canada), Oceania (#15 New Zealand), and Asia (#21 Japan); Africa had the lowest next-ranked team (#24 South Africa). The continental tournaments were won by Canada (via World Championship rather than continental tournament, which was cancelled), China, Hungary, and New Zealand. The World Championships places were allocated as follows:^[4]

Rank	Kayaker	Nation	Qualification	Selected competitors
1	Max Hoff Jacob Schopf		Quota #1 in K-2 (#1, #2 athlete quotas)	Max Hoff Jacob Schopf
2	Francisco Cubelos Iñigo Peña		Quota #2 in K-2 (#3, #4 athlete quotas)
3	Cyrille Carré Étienne Hubert		Quota #3 in K-2 (#5, #6 athlete quotas)
4	Josef Dostál Radek Šlouf		Quota #4 in K-2 (#7, #8 athlete quotas)
5	Jordan Wood Riley Fitzsimmons		Quota #5 in K-2 (#9, #10 athlete quotas)
6	Luca Beccaro Samuele Burgo		Quota #6 in K-2 (#11, #12 athlete quotas)

Continental places:^[4]

Nation	Qualification	Selected competitor
	Americas quota in K-2 500 m
	Asia quota in K-2 500 m
	Europe quota in K-2 500 m
	Oceania quota in K-2 500 m

Nations with women's kayak quota spots from the K-1 200 metres, K-1 500 metres, or K-4 500 metres could enter (additional) boats as well.

Competition format

Sprint canoeing uses a four-round format for events with at least 11 boats, with heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. The specifics of the progression format depend on the number of boats ultimately entered.^[5]

The course is a flatwater course 9 metres wide. The name of the event describes the particular format within sprint canoeing. The "K" format means a kayak, with the canoeist sitting, using a double-bladed paddle to paddle, and steering with a foot-operated rudder (as opposed to a canoe, with a kneeling canoeist, single-bladed paddle, and no rudder). The "2" is the number of canoeists in each boat. The "1000 metres" is the distance of each race.^[6]

Schedule

The event was held over two consecutive days, with two rounds per day. All sessions started at 9:30 a.m. local time, though there are multiple events with races in each session.^[1]

Sprint
Event↓/Date →	Mon 2		Tue 3		Wed 4		Thu 5		Fri 6		Sat 7
Men's K-2 1000 m					H	¼	½	F

Results

Heats

Progression System: 1st-2nd to SF, rest to QF.

Heat 1

width=30	Rank	width=30	Lane	width=175	Canoer	width=150	Country	width=30	Time	width=50	Notes
1	7	Jean van der Westhuyzen Thomas Green		3:08.773	OB, SF
2	5	Max Hoff Jacob Schopf		3:09.830	SF
3	4	Samuel Baláž Adam Botek		3:13.982	QF
4	2	Max Brown Kurtis Imrie		3:17.210	QF
5	3	Mikita Borykau Aleh Yurenia		3:18.952	QF
6	6	Brian Malfesi Vincent Jourdenais		3:22.068	QF

Heat 2

width=30	Rank	width=30	Lane	width=175	Canoer	width=150	Country	width=30	Time	width=50	Notes
1	2	Bence Nádas Bálint Kopasz		3:11.877	SF
2	5	Josef Dostál Radek Šlouf		3:13.425	SF
3	6	Riley Fitzsimmons Jordan Wood		3:18.453	QF
4	3	Samuele Burgo Luca Beccaro		3:28.047	QF
5	4	Étienne Hubert Guillaume Burger		3:29.296	QF

Heat 3

width=30	Rank	width=30	Lane	width=175	Canoer	width=150	Country	width=30	Time	width=50	Notes
1	4	Francisco Cubelos Íñigo Peña		3:10.138	SF
2	6	Wang Congkang Bu Tingkai		3:10.292	SF
3	5	Maxim Spesivtsev Roman Anoshkin		3:20.610	QF
4	3	Kornél Béke Ádám Varga		3:26.732	QF
5	2	Tuva'a Clifton Rudolf Williams		3:55.617	QF

Quarterfinals

Progression System: 1st-3rd to SF, rest to Final B.

Quarterfinal 1

width=30	Rank	width=30	Lane	width=175	Canoer	width=150	Country	width=30	Time	width=50	Notes
1	2	Mikita Borykau Aleh Yurenia		3:10.126	SF
2	4	Max Brown Kurtis Imrie		3:10.220	SF
3	3	Samuele Burgo Luca Beccaro		3:12.667	SF
4	5	Maxim Spesivtsev Roman Anoshkin		3:14.045	FB
5	6	Étienne Hubert Guillaume Burger		3:18.284	FB

Quarterfinal 2

width=30	Rank	width=30	Lane	width=175	Canoer	width=150	Country	width=30	Time	width=50	Notes
1	4	Riley Fitzsimmons Jordan Wood		3:10.619	SF
2	5	Samuel Baláž Adam Botek		3:11.458	SF
3	3	Kornél Béke Ádám Varga		3:15.225	SF
4	6	Brian Malfesi Vincent Jourdenais		3:15.736	FB
5	2	Tuva'a Clifton Rudolf Williams		3:46.523	FB

Semifinals

Progression System: 1st-4th to Final A, rest to Final B.

Semifinal 1

width=30	Rank	width=30	Lane	width=175	Canoer	width=150	Country	width=30	Time	width=50	Notes
1	4	Jean van der Westhuyzen Thomas Green		3:17.077	FA
2	2	Max Brown Kurtis Imrie		3:17.684	FA
3	3	Wang Congkang Bu Tingkai		3:17.784	FA
4	5	Josef Dostál Radek Šlouf		3:18.240	FA
5	7	Samuele Burgo Luca Beccaro		3:20.591	FB
6	6	Riley Fitzsimmons Jordan Wood		3:21.860	FB

Semifinal 2

width=30	Rank	width=30	Lane	width=175	Canoer	width=150	Country	width=30	Time	width=50	Notes
1	3	Max Hoff Jacob Schopf		3:17.554	FA
2	5	Bence Nádas Bálint Kopasz		3:18.316	FA
3	6	Mikita Borykau Aleh Yurenia		3:18.875	FA
4	4	Francisco Cubelos Íñigo Peña		3:19.133	FA
5	7	Kornél Béke Ádám Varga		3:20.197	FB
6	2	Samuel Baláž Adam Botek		3:20.917	FB

Finals

Final A

width=30	Rank	width=30	Lane	width=175	Canoer	width=150	Country	width=30	Time	width=50	Notes
	5	Jean van der Westhuyzen Thomas Green		3:15.280
	4	Max Hoff Jacob Schopf		3:15.584
	1	Josef Dostál Radek Šlouf		3:16.106
4	6	Bence Nádas Bálint Kopasz		3:16.535
5	3	Max Brown Kurtis Imrie		3:17.267
6	8	Francisco Cubelos Íñigo Peña		3:17.327
7	2	Mikita Borykau Aleh Yurenia		3:17.769
8	7	Wang Congkang Bu Tingkai		3:19.612

Final B

width=30	Rank	width=30	Lane	width=175	Canoer	width=150	Country	width=30	Time	width=50	Notes
9	2	Maxim Spesivtsev Roman Anoshkin		3:19.680
10	6	Samuel Baláž Adam Botek		3:21.087
11	5	Samuele Burgo Luca Beccaro		3:22.408
12	4	Kornél Béke Ádám Varga		3:24.223
13	3	Riley Fitzsimmons Jordan Wood		3:24.757
14	7	Brian Malfesi Vincent Jourdenais		3:25.181
15	8	Étienne Hubert Guillaume Burger		3:32.690
16	1	Tuva'a Clifton Rudolf Williams		3:56.171

Notes and References

Web site: Canoe Sprint Competition Schedule . Tokyo 2020 . 25 June 2021 . 3 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210703154210/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/schedule/canoe-sprint-schedule . dead .
News: Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Canoe Sprint. International Canoe Federation. 25 June 2021.
News: DOSB nominiert weitere 94 Athletinnen für Tokio. DOSB nominated 94 more athletes for Tokyo. de. German Olympic Sports Confederation. 15 June 2021. 16 June 2021.
https://www.canoeicf.com/sites/default/files/canoe_sprint_quota_allocation_-_tokyo_2020_-_media_format.pdf Canoe Sprint Quota Allocation
Web site: Canoe Sprint Progression System . ICF . 25 June 2021.
Web site: Canoe Sprint . IOC . 25 June 2021 . 3 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210703154152/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/sports/canoe-sprint/ . dead .