Germany had a great day out on the water as the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Canoe Sprint competition got underway at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, qualifying the fastest boats in four of the six categories raced on Tuesday. 

The German men’s kayak four 500m, chasing a third consecutive Olympic gold, showed they have held their World-Championships winning form, not only posting the quickest heat time, but then splitting the crew in half to post the two fastest times in the men’s kayak double 500m. 

Jacob Schopf, who won kayak double 1000m Olympic silver paddling with Max Hoff in Tokyo, said it was good to be back in the K2. But he emphasised that the K4 is the main focus for himself and partner Max Lemke. 

“The K4 is the most important boat for all of us, and then the K2, and hopefully in the K2 we can also show our best,” Schopf said. 

“I have a lot of great memories of the Tokyo race. But there is not so much experience for us, and also the training was not so much focussed for the K2. But now we can improve our boat race-by-race and hopefully bring a great final.” 

It was a similar story for the German women’s kayak four 500m, carrying their improved 2023 performances to a solid heat win on Tuesday. All of the favoured crews safely progressed to the next round. 

In the women’s kayak double 500m, Paulina Paszek and Jule Hake sent out an early warning, with the Germans cruising to the finish line in the fastest of the four heats. 

Canada has put down an early challenge to the Olympic and world champions China in the women’s canoe double 500m. Sloan MacKenzie and Katie Vincent posted the quickest heat win, just ahead of Shixiao Xu and Mengya Sun. The Chinese have not lost a major final since the lead-up to  Tokyo 2020. 

“It’s obvious there is a lot of pressure on us going into this Olympic Games, but we can only try our best and not finish with any regrets,” Xu said. 

“There will always be a difference for us between Tokyo and Paris, with the environment, the space and the crowds.” 

China also looks strong in the men’s canoe double 500, with Hao Liu and Bowen Ji winning their heat in the fastest time.  

Carlo Tacchini is back at the Olympics for Italy after missing Tokyo 2020 and teamed up with Gabriele Casadei to safely qualify their boat for the next round. 

“It was a tough race, we didn’t have the best race, so we think we can improve and get better for the semis,” Tacchini said. 

“It was very important that we missed the quarter finals, so we broke the ice in a good way. It’s been eight years since my last Olympic appearance, this is where I want to be, so I just need to keep enjoying the moment.” 

The only major surprise on the opening day of racing was the elimination of reigning women's K2 500 world champions Emma Jorgensen and Frederikke Matthiesen, who came to Paris as medal favourite.

Wednesday will feature racing in the men’s and women’s kayak single and canoe single competitions.