One year after posting one of their worst results as a crew, the German kayak four made history in Paris on Thursday by becoming the first men’s team in Olympic Canoe Sprint history to win three gold medals in a row.

The quartet of Max Rendschmidt, Max Lemke, Jacob Schopf and Tom Liebscher-Lucz held on by just point 0.04 from the fast finishing crew from Australia, with Spain taking the bronze.

It was a big turnaround from their disappointing fifth finish at last year’s European Games.

After that race the team was faced with the choice of changing the personnel, or just changing the seating arrangements.

They chose the latter, and the rest is history.

“People looking from outside don’t understand, if you change just one person in the boat you have a completely new boat,” Rendschmidt said.

“We had some very hard years, world cups where we didn’t win medals, and the European Games were not nice for us. But that was where we recognised the way we had chosen was not the good way, and we had to change something.”

Liebscher-Lucz and Rendschmidt have been part of all three gold medals, while it was the second for Lemke, and the first for Schopf, who replaced Ronald Rauhe after he retired post-Tokyo.

In Tokyo Schopf and his partner, Max Hoff, were pipped for kayak double gold by Australia, so he said to turn the tables on the Australians in Paris felt satisfying.

“It was so emotional, I wasn’t really sure if we had won or not, it felt nearly the same as Tokyo,” Schopf said.

“When we saw that we had won gold it was like the best day of my life. I’ve reached my biggest sporting dream and I’m an Olympic champion. And an Olympic champion is for your whole life. I need some weeks to recognise what has happened.”

Schopf also spoke of the pressure he felt being the new member of a crew that had won gold at the past two Olympics.

“I think it was a hard situation in 2022 when I was the new guy in the boat,” he said.

“All the people thought I was the problem when we don’t win, but I think we recognised as a team that we can win as a team. There was not one human who was good or not good.

“It was easy to say this guy is not a fast guy, but when you are a clever guy you have to see that you are a team, not a one man show.”

Lemke said the win comes at an important time for his country generally.

“It’s not just for us, you know, in Germany at the moment sport doesn’t have the biggest standing so it’s nice to show Germany and our citizens that sport in Germany can still be a  big thing, and can still be successful, and that we can get young people to start doing sport,” Lemke said.

Liebscher-Lucz said to add a new chapter in Olympic sprint alongside the gold gave the result a special meaning.

“I think this is history, no country has ever won three gold medals in a row in the K4, so it’s a really special moment after this three years of hard work,” Liebscher Lucz said.

“When I knew it was only three years to the next Olympics, I thought because it was a shorter time, it would be easier. But it was a shorter time but much more harder. To get up and get in shape and get back to race mode.

“We stated pretty well this year. We are a K4, so much depends on all of us staying healthy. We never lost focus on landing a medal. This was kind of pressure, but we managed it, and it was nice.”

Click here for the story on the Chinese men's canoe double 500m win.