Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-08-23 17:16:32

Saul Craviotto and Carlos Perez of Spain (Photo credit: Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 23) — Spain’s Saul Craviotto and Carlos Perez pulled out a close win over defending champions Ronald Rauhe and Tim Wieskotter of Germany in the Canoe/Kayak Flatwater KayakDouble (K2) 500 meter final on Saturday, August 23.

Twenty-three-year-old Craviotto and 28-year-old Perez were underdogs going into the final. Their rivals included the defending champion German pair, Friday’s K2 1000m second place Danish pair Kim Wraae Knudsen and Rene Holten Poulsen, Friday’s K2 1000m third place Italian pair Andrea Facchin and Antonio Massimiliano Scaduto and Friday’s K4 1000m gold medalists Raman Piatrushenka and Vadzim Makhneu from Belarus.

However, the Spanish pair had an excellent race on Saturday, leading from start to end. Rauhe and Wieskotter’s strategy by comparison was a bit conservative. They only ranked fourth after 250 meters. Even thought they made a strong burst in the last 100m, they still failed to make up the time in the end. Craviotto and Perez won the race with a time of 1:28.736 minutes, just 0.091 seconds ahead the German pair.

Belarus’ Piatrushenka and Makhneu took the bronze with a time of 1:30.005 minutes.

Craviotto competed mostly in K4 events before this tournament and Perez were more known as an individual competitor. These pair took the second Flatwater gold meal for the Spain in Beijing, becoming the most surprising winners in this competition so far.