Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-08-15 17:29:22

Peter and Pavol Hochschorner of Slovakia (Photo credit: Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 15) — Slovakian twins Peter and Pavol Hochschorner didn’t let their fans down as they won the Canoe\Kayak Slalom C2 final on Friday, taking their third Olympic gold medal in their third Olympic appearance.

If their compatriot Michal Martikán is the king of Slalom C1, then Peter and Pavol are the Twin Towers in Slalom C2. They have virtually dominated this event for the past 12 years, winning most major international events in addition to two Olympic gold medals.

The pair finished second in the semifinal on Thursday which was interrupted by heavy rain. They were beaten again in the final, placing second with a time of 95.97 seconds. However, after combing the results of the semifinal and final races, they won the event with a total time of 190.82 seconds, including four seconds of penalty.

Runners-up Ondřej Štěpánek and Jaroslav Volf of the Czech Republic didn’t get any penalties in the two runs, but they were still over-paddled by the Slovakian twins. Their second place result is 192.89 seconds, 2.07 seconds behind Peter and Pavol.

Russian pair Mikhail Kuznetsov and Dmitry Larionov placed third clocking 197.37 seconds.

Cédric Forgit and Martin Braud of France did best in the final, but their lackluster performance in the semifinal downgraded them to fourth place.

Italian pair Andrea Benetti and Erik Masoero finished fifth with a total time of 204.12 seconds, followed by German pair Felix Michel and Sebastian Piersig who ranked first after the semifinal.