Canoe Doubles (C2), 500 metres, Men

Although Cuba was the defending gold medalist, their paddlers had not done well internationally since the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. China had won silver at Tokyo, with Liu Hao accompanied by Zheng Pengfei, but Zheng was no longer competing. Poland was world ranked #1 coming into Paris 2024, but their duo of Wiktor Głazunow and Tomasz Barniak did not compete in this event. Germany had won the 2023 World Championships behind Peter Kretschmer and Tim Hecker.

At Paris, China moved up to the top step of the podium, Ji Bowen now paddling alongside Liu, and they were not really challenged. Winning both their heat and semi-final easily, with a new Olympic best of 1:37.40 in their heat, they took the gold medal in the final by almost two seconds over the Italian pair of Gabriele Casadei and Carlo Tacchini, who took silver. Casadei and Tacchini were a last-minute substitute for the world ranked #2 crew of Nicolae Craciun and Daniele Santini, who had won the 2021 World Championships. The unheralded Spanish boat, with Joan Moreno and Diego Domínguez, surprised by taking the bronze medal, as Kretschmer and Hecker finished fifth.