Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2007-08-20 From: Xinhuanet

Peter Hochschorner and Pavol Hochschorner of Slovakia compete during the Men’s C2 Canoe Doubel Semifinal at the 2007 Good Luck Beijing Canoe/Kayak Slalom China Open, at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in Beijing, China, on Aug. 19, 2007. They entered the final as they finished first with a time of 103.01 seconds. (Xinhu Photoa/Song Zhenping)

BEIJING, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) — Slovakia was the biggest winner on Sunday after it clinched both the men’s canoe double (C2) and women’s kayak single (K1) gold medals in China Open.

The twins Peter Hochschorner/Pavol Hochschorner finished the two outings at the C2’s semifinal and final in 204.45 seconds, ahead of Frenchmen Cedric Forgit/Martin Braud and German Felix Michel/ Sebastian Piersig.

The double champion at the Sydney and Athens Olympics led the way into the semifinal and final by making an almost perfect performance at Saturday’s heats and Sunday’s semifinal.

“We feel great today and the race in the final is even 0.8 seconds faster than the semifinal,” Peter said.

“We have no plan to celebrate our success. We will soon be busy preparing for the world championships in September and the Beijing Olympics after being qualified,” he added.

Slovakia’s Jana Dukatova won the women’s K1 gold medal, beatingGerman Jasmin Schornberg and Chinese Li Jingjing to the second and third finishers.

Despite the championship, Dukatova was unsatisfied with her performance. “I made a couple of mistakes in the tough water course,” she said.

“I hope I can win the gold medal here in next year’s Beijing Games, but first I have to pass the qualifying events,” said the world second ranked Slovakian.

Duan Junjie and Duan Junqing of China compete during the Men’s C2 Canoe Doubel Semifinal at the 2007 Good Luck Beijing Canoe/Kayak Slalom China Open, at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in Beijing, China, on Aug. 19, 2007. They failed to enter the final as they finished eighth with a time of 115.48 seconds. (Xinhua Photo/Song Zhenping)

Marek Jiras and Tomas Mader of the Czech Republic compete during the Men’s C2 Canoe Doubel Semifinal at the 2007 Good Luck Beijing Canoe/Kayak Slalom China Open, at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in Beijing, China, on Aug. 19, 2007. (Xinhua Photo/Li Ying)