August 23 saw the first-day competition of the "Good Luck Beijing" Canoe/Kayak Flatwater Open. In the 16 preliminary races today, European paddlers show their strong strength by winning 14 first places. Remarkably, both the British kayaker Tim Brabants and Ben Fouhy of the New Zealand finished first in the preliminaries of their respective events by their outstanding performance, while Yang Wenjun, champion of the Athens Olympic Games and the most famous canoeist among all the Chinese competitors, finished second in the Group B preliminary of the men's C-1 500m.

In a total of 16 preliminaries of eight events held today, the European paddlers showed their strength by winning 14 first places. Due to poor form and unfavorable wind direction, some paddlers failed to bring their strength into full play, but some competitions were still intense, the gap between the top two placers were often less than 0.5s. Obviously, the competitors in this open are strong in general.

The competition in the men's events today was generally intense, the highlights fell on Tim Brabants of the UK and the New Zealand's kayaker Ben Fouhy, both of whom finished first in the preliminaries of their respective events, showing their strength and form superior to the others. They are likely to be the favorites of their respective events.

As the champion of the Athens Olympic Games, Yang Wenjun had shouldered the ardent expectations of the Chinese spectators. In today's competition, Yang finished second with a result of one minute 59.620 seconds. Yang thought it was difficult to bring his form to the best in the first race and the wind today had affected him a lot. In this event, Aliaksandr Zhukouski of Belarus clocked 1:59.346 to win the first finisher. Personal performance may be decisive in the final. 

Following are results of the first-place finishers in the 16 preliminary races today:

Group A of Men's K-1 1,000m: Tim Brabants GBR 3:38:770
Group B of Men's K-1 1,000m: Ben Fouhy NZL 3:45:136

Group A of Men's C-1 1,000m: Bertrand Hemonic FRA 4:13:467
Group B of Men's C-1 1,000m: Maxim Opalev RUS 4:18:109

Group A of Men's K-2 1,000m: Philippe Colin/Sebastien Jouve FRA 3:27:243
Group B of Men's K-2 1,000m: Ben Fouhy/Steven Ferguson NZL 3:30:255

Group A of Men's K-1 500m: Tim Brabants GBR 1:48:203
Group B of Men's K-1 500m: Kenneth Wallace AUS 1:45:476

Group A of Men's C-1 500m: Andreas Dittmer GER 2:02:001
Group B of Men's C-1 500m: Aliaksandr Zhukouski BRL 1:59:346

Group A of Women's K-1 500m: Katalin Kovacs HUN 1:58:864
Group B of Women's K-1 500m: Carrie Johnson USA 2:00:706

Group A of Men's K-1 500m: Ronald Rauhe/Tim Wieskotter GER 1:36:667
Group B of Men's K-1 500m: Raman Piatiushenka/Vadzim Makhneu BEL 1:38:587

Group A of Women's K-2 500m: Fanny Fischer/Nicole Reinhardt GER 1:50:780
Group B of Women's K-2 500m: Timea Paksy/Dalma Benedek HUN 1:53:530