Kayak Fours (K4), 1,000 metres, Men

The men’s K-4 1000 made its Olympic début at the 1964 Games, replacing the kayak relay, 4 x 500 metres, from the previous edition, although it had been held at the World Championships since the tournament’s inception in 1938. Two of the champions from that event, Germany’s Günter Perleberg and Friedhelm Wentzke, were present in Tokyo for this one. East Germany, Romania, and the Soviet Union had finished in that order at the most recent European and World Championships, while the order had been East Germany, the Soviet Union, and Hungary at the 1961 Europeans. It was Romania, the Soviet Union, and Hungary, however, who met in the first heat of the opening round and finished in that order, while a unified Germany captured the other heat. Germany and Hungary were paired together in the semi-finals, which the former won by a significant margin, while the Soviets and the Romanians took the other heats. The final was a close affair, as expected, with only a second separating the first three finishers, the Soviet Union, Germany, and Romania. Hungary was a less than a second behind them in fourth. Romania’s Aurel Vernescu also took bronze in the K-1 1000, while Germany’s Holger Zander captured bronze in the K-2 1000.