Canoeing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's K-4 500 metres

The men's K-4 500 metres sprint canoeing event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 6 and 7 August 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway.[1] 44 canoeists (11 boats of 4) from 11 nations competed.[2]

Men's K-4 500 metres
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Canoeing pictogram
VenueSea Forest Waterway
Dates6 August 2021 (heats)
7 August 2021 (semifinal & final)
Competitors44 (11 boats) from 11 nations
Winning time1:22.219
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Max Rendschmidt
Ronald Rauhe
Tom Liebscher
Max Lemke
 Germany
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Saúl Craviotto
Marcus Walz
Carlos Arévalo
Rodrigo Germade
 Spain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Samuel Baláž
Denis Myšák
Erik Vlček
Adam Botek
 Slovakia
2024 →

Background edit

This was the debut appearance of the event, replacing the 1000 metres men's K-4 race that was held from 1964 to 2016.

The reigning World Champions were Tom Liebscher, Ronald Rauhe, Max Rendschmidt, and Max Lemke of Germany, who were named to the German team.[3] The 2016 Olympic champions in the 1000 metres were Rendschmidt, Liebscher, Max Hoff, and Marcus Gross; Hoff has also been named to the German team.

Qualification edit

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could qualify one place in the event. A total of 10 qualification places were available, all awarded through the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. There were required to be boats from 4 continents qualified. Thus, the top 7 at the World Championships were guaranteed to qualify, with the 8th, 9th, and 10th spots potentially being reserved for continental qualifiers.

Qualifying places were awarded to the NOC, not to the individual canoeist who earned the place.[2]

The World Championships places were allocated as follows:[4]

Rank Kayaker Nation Qualification Selected competitors
1 Tom Liebscher
Ronald Rauhe
Max Rendschmidt
Max Lemke
  Germany Quota #1 (Continent #1)
2 Saúl Craviotto
Carlos Arévalo
Rodrigo Germade
Marcus Walz
  Spain Quota #2
3 Erik Vlček
Adam Botek
Csaba Zalka
Samuel Baláž
  Slovakia Quota #3
4 Aleksandr Sergeyev
Oleg Gusev
Vitaly Ershov
Artem Kuzakhmetov
  ROC Quota #4
5 Balázs Birkás
Bence Nádas
Sándor Tótka
István Kuli
  Hungary Quota #5
6 Emanuel Silva
João Ribeiro
David Varela
Messias Baptista
  Portugal Quota #6
7 Aliaksei Misiuchenka
Stanislau Daineka
Uladzislau Litvinau
Dzmitry Natynchyk
  Belarus Quota #7
8 Maxime Beaumont
Guillaume Burger
Francis Mouget
Guillaume Le Floch Decorchemont
  France Not qualified
9 Daniel Havel
Jakub Špicar
Lukáš Nepraš
Jakub Zavřel
  Czech Republic Not qualified
10 Lachlan Tame
Matthew Goble
Thomas Green
Jackson Collins
  Australia Quota #8 (Continent #2)
11 Nicola Ripamonti
Mauro Pra Floriani
Andrea Di Liberto
Alessandro Gnecchi
  Italy Not qualified
12 Momotaro Matsushita
Hiroki Fujishima
Keiji Mizumoto
Yusuke Miyata
  Japan Quota #9 (Continent #3)
13 Aurimas Lankas
Edvinas Ramanauskas
Mindaugas Maldonis
Simonas Maldonis
  Lithuania Not qualified
14 Mark de Jonge
Pierre-Luc Poulin
Nicholas Matveev
Simon McTavish
  Canada Quota #10 (Continent #4)

Competition format edit

Sprint canoeing uses a three-round format for events with 10 boats, with heats, semifinals, and finals. The specifics of the progression format depend on the number of boats ultimately entered.[5]

  • Heats: 2 heats of 5 boats each. The top 2 in each heat (4 boats total) advance directly to the final. The remaining 6 boats compete in the semifinal.
  • Semifinal: 1 heat of 6 boats. The top 4 advance to the final; the remaining 2 boats are eliminated in 9th and 10th place.
  • Final: 1 heat of 8 boats. The medals and 4th through 8th place are awarded.

The course is a flatwater course 9 metres wide. The name of the event describes the particular format within sprint canoeing. The "K" format means a kayak, with the canoeist sitting, using a double-bladed paddle to paddle, and steering with a foot-operated rudder (as opposed to a canoe, with a kneeling canoeist, single-bladed paddle, and no rudder). The "4" is the number of canoeists in each boat. The "500 metres" is the distance of each race.[6]

Schedule edit

The event was held over two consecutive days, with two rounds per day. All sessions started at 9:30 a.m. local time, though there are multiple events with races in each session.[1]

Legend
H Heats ¼ Quarterfinals ½ Semifinals F Final
Sprint
Event↓/Date → Mon 2 Tue 3 Wed 4 Thu 5 Fri 6 Sat 7
Men's K-4 500 m H ½ F

Canoer per team edit

Number Rowers Nation
1 Lachlan Tame - Riley Fitzsimmons - Murray Stewart - Jordan Wood   Australia
2 Uladzislau Litvinau - Dzmitry Natynchyk - Ilya Fedarenka - Mikita Borykau   Belarus
3 Nicholas Matveev - Mark de Jonge - Pierre-Luc Poulin - Simon McTavish   Canada
4 Yang Xiaoxu - Wang Congkang - Zhang Dong - Bu Tingkai   China
5 Max Rendschmidt - Ronald Rauhe - Tom Liebscher - Max Lemke   Germany
6 Bence Nádas - Kornél Béke - Kolos Csizmadia - Sándor Tótka   Hungary
7 Keiji Mizumoto - Momotaro Matsushita - Yusuke Miyata - Hiroki Fujishima   Japan
8 Emanuel Silva - João Ribeiro - Messias Baptista - David Varela   Portugal
9 Artem Kuzakhmetov - Aleksandr Sergeyev - Roman Anoshkin - Maxim Spesivtsev   ROC
10 Samuel Baláž - Denis Myšák - Erik Vlček - Adam Botek   Slovakia
11 Saúl Craviotto - Marcus Walz - Carlos Arévalo - Rodrigo Germade   Spain

Results edit

Heats edit

Progression System: 1st-2nd to SF, rest to QF.

Quarterfinal edit

Progression System: 1st-6th to SF, rest out

Rank Lane Country Time Notes
1 2   Hungary 1:23.727 SF
2 5   Belarus 1:23.848 SF
3 3   China 1:24.036 SF
4 7   Portugal 1:24.325 SF
5 4   Canada 1:24.979 SF
6 6   ROC 1:25.564 SF
7 1   Japan 1:28.211

Semifinals edit

Progression System: 1st-4th to Final, rest out.

Final edit

Rank Lane Country Time Notes
  5   Germany 1:22.219
  4   Spain 1:22.445
  3   Slovakia 1:23.534
4 1   ROC 1:23.654
5 7   Belarus 1:24.510
6 6   Australia 1:25.025
7 2   Hungary 1:25.068
8 8   Portugal 1:25.324

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Canoe Sprint Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 3 July 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Canoe Sprint" (PDF). International Canoe Federation. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  3. ^ "DOSB nominiert weitere 94 Athletinnen für Tokio" [DOSB nominated 94 more athletes for Tokyo] (in German). German Olympic Sports Confederation. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  4. ^ Canoe Sprint Quota Allocation
  5. ^ "Canoe Sprint Progression System" (PDF). ICF. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  6. ^ "Canoe Sprint". IOC. Archived from the original on 3 July 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2021.