Kayak Singles, Slalom, Men

Two former Olympic champions, Italy’s Pierpaolo Ferrazzi (1992, also a bronze medalist in 2000) and Germany’s Thomas Schmidt (2000), travelled to the 2004 Games to bid for the title again, although neither had won any major international medals within the last three years. France’s Fabien Lefèvre, as the two-time World Champion, was the favorite in the event. Schmidt and Lefèvre were third and fourth respectively in the qualifying heat, having been bested by Mike Kurt of Switzerland and Campbell Walsh of Great Britain. Ferrazzi, meanwhile, was 19th, only two positions shy of elimination. The final round had a new rule, wherein only the top ten canoeists after the first run would advance to the second. This ended up working against both Ferrazzi and Kurt, who occupied the last two spots on the table after the first round. Walsh, meanwhile, was first, followed by Benoît Peschier of France and Sam Oud of the Netherlands. Schmidt and Lefèvre, meanwhile, were now fifth and sixth. In the final portion, both Frenchmen had good runs, finishing first and second, but Peschier’s was great enough to him the gold medal, as Walsh had placed third. The Briton thus took silver while Lefèvre, hampered by his earlier mark, settled for bronze. Schmidt was again fifth and ended up fifth in the final rankings, while Oud slipped to ninth in the round and eighth overall.