Canadian Singles, 1,000 metres, Men

Ivan Patzaichin of Romania was, among other titles, the 1972 Olympic and 1973 World Champion, the 1975 World runner-up, and the 1974 World bronze medalist in the C-1 1000, but he would have to contend with Vasyl Yurchenko of the Soviet Union, winner at the last two World Championships, at the 1976 Summer Olympics. Hungary’s Tamás Wichmann, meanwhile, was the 1972 Olympic runner-up and the 1973 and 1975 World bronze medalist. Patzaichin posted the fastest time in the opening round, defeating Wichmann in the process, while Yurchenko captured the other heat. In the semi-finals, however, Patzaichin was bested by Borislav Ananiev of Bulgaria, while Yurchenko and Wichmann took the other heats. In the final, Yugoslavian Matija Ljubek, who had won bronze in the C-1 500 the previous day, put forth an outstanding effort and captured the gold medal over three seconds ahead of Yurchenko, who settled for silver. Wichmann and Ananiev, meanwhile, raced for bronze, with the former crossing the finish line first, albeit by only 0.3 seconds. This was Ananiev’s second disappointment of the Games, as he had also come in fourth in the C-1 500. As for Patzaichin, he could not keep up to the front runners and placed fifth.