The first-day competition of the "Good Luck Beijing" Canoe/Kayak Flatwater Open continued on the afternoon of August 23. As a result, the strong German team finished first in the heats of many events.

Dittmer, champion of the C-1 500m event and runner-up of the C-2 1,000m event at the Athens Olympic Games, was directly qualified for the finals of both events, despite a great concentration of world top canoeists, the German still had full confidence to win in this open.

Ronald Rauhe/Tim Wieskotter, gold medalists of the men's K-2 500m event at the 2006 and 2007 Canoe/Kayak World Championships, won easily the first place as expected among all the 16 pairs of the competitors with a result of 1:36.667 in today's heats. After the competition, Wieskotter expressed that he came for the gold medal and the Belarusian pair was their biggest opponent.

Another German pair Fanny Fischer/Nicole Reinhardt performed well likewise, who finished first in the heat of the women's K-2 500m event with a result of 1:50.780. "Having just competed in the German National Championships and the World Championships, I feel a little tired", said Nicole, "We had saved our best form for the World Championship and came here just for adaptation to the course."

Nonetheless, the German pair expressed that they would surely go all out for a good result.