Flatwater canoeist Willi Horn and his partner Erich Hanisch qualified for the K-2 over 1,000 metres for the 1936 Berlin Olympics as the German Champions, which they had won for the fifth year in a row in Olympic year. They decided, however, to enter the folding kayak F-2 event over 10 km instead and left Fritz Bondroit and Ewald Tilker to race the K-2 1,000. Horn and Hanisch won the silver medal in Berlin having been European Champions over 10 km in 1934.
Both Horn and Hanisch were trained telegraph workers. After World War II Horn coached the GDR national team and worked as a sports teacher in Köpenick.