Martin Hollstein and Andreas Ihle celebrate their victory.
(BEIJING, August 22) -- Germany's Martin Hollstein and Andreas Ihle won the Canoe/Kayak Flatwater Men's Kayak Double (K2) 1000 meter final on Friday, August 22.
Twenty-nine-year-old Ihle took a silver medal in Athens in the K4 1000m race, and won a bronze medal with Tim Wieskoetter in the 2008 ICF Flatwater World Cup in Szeged, Hungary. Only shortly before the Beijing Olympics did Ihle begin a partnership with 21-year-old Hollstein, who previously competed mostly in individual categories. In the K2 1000m final, the new pair didn't take the lead until the very last 200 meters. They passed the finish line first with a time of 3:11.809 minutes.
Kim Wraae Knudsen and Rene Holten Poulsen of Denmark placed second, 1.771 seconds behind the German pair. This is their best ever senior achievement.
Italy's Andrea Facchin and Antonio Massimiliano Scaduto of Italy took the bronze medal clocking 3:14.750 minutes. The pair took a gold medal in the 2007 ICF Flatwater World Cup in Duisburg, Germany.
Hungary's Zoltan Kammerer and Gabor Kucsera led the race for the majority of the course, but were overrun in the end and only finished fifth.
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