Kayak Singles, Slalom, Men

The Olympic program had experimented with canoe slalom events in 1972, but they did not become a permanent fixture until the 1992 Summer Games. Great Britain had won the K-1 at the last two World Championships, although only its 1989 victor, Richard Fox, was present in Barcelona. Fox, however, was 22nd after the first run, which was won by Germany’s Jochen Lettmann. France’s Laurent Brissaud, a bronze medalist in the K-1 team event from the 1987 World Championships, and Yugoslavia’s Marjan Štrukelj, the 1987 World bronze medalist and 1991 runner-up in the K-1, were second and third respectively. Fox had a better run than Lettmann in the second round, but it was still not sufficient to catch up to the German’s original mark. Both Italy’s Pierpaolo Ferrazzi and France’s Sylvain Curinier, 17th and 34th respectively after the first run, did manage to best Lettmann’s score and took gold and silver, leaving the German with bronze and Fox one position off the podium.