Single Sculls, Men

Thomas Lange, now competing for a unified Germany, was the reigning Olympic champion and winner of two of the last three World Championships, which made him a strong favorite to defend his crown in the men’s single sculls at the 1992 Summer Olympics. His great rival was probably Václav Chalupa, Jr. of Czechoslovakia, runner-up at the last three World Championships and winner of the 1989 Diamond Challenge Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta. Other contenders included Joaquín Gómez of Mexico, the reigning Pan American champion, New Zealand’s Eric Verdonk, the 1988 Olympic bronze medalist and 1990 Diamond Challenge Sculls winner, Finland’s Pertti Karppinen, Olympic champion in 1976, 1980, and 1984, and Jüri Jaanson, who had won the 1990 World Championship for the Soviet Union and was now competing for an independent Estonia.

Harald Faderbauer of Austria had the fastest time in the opening round, with the other heats being won by Lange, Chalupa, and Argentina’s Sergio Fernández, the most recent Pan American runner-up. In the semi-finals, Lange defeated Chalupa in a heat that saw Poland’s Kajetan Broniewski, the 1991 World bronze medalist, earn a spot as the third qualifier. Karppinen finished fourth and, as in the previous Olympics, failed to survive until the final. Fernández, meanwhile, won the other heat, ahead of Jaanson and Verdonk. The final came down to a race to the finish between Lange and Chalupa, but the former pulled away near the end to successfully defend his crown. Chalupa came in second and, nearly four seconds later, Broniewski beat out Verdonk to claim the final podium spot.