Peter Hochschorner/Pavol Hochschorner

After the men's C-2 and women's K-1 heats of the "Good Luck Beijing" 2007 Canoe/Kayak Slalom Open held at the Shunyi Olympic Rowin-Canoeing Park on August 18, Slovak paddlers, who currently rank high on top in the world, dominate the first places in both events. Three Chinese women paddlers and two pairs of Chinese men paddlers qualified for tomorrow's semifinals.

Men's C-2

A total of 13 pairs of paddlers participated in the men's C-2 heats, including three twins. All three twins successfully made the semifinals.

Peter Hochschorner/Pavol Hochschorner, the 28-year-old twin brothers from Slovakia, did not make any mistake in the first run but was given a two-second penalty at Gate 4 in the second run. However, they came out on top in both runs. With a total time of 204.96 seconds, they fully deserve the first place. Double Olympic champions at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, they currently rank first in the world.

Finishing second in the men's C-2 heats are also twin brothers. Christophe Luquet/Piere Luquet of France made no mistake in either run, but they were 4.65 seconds slower than the Hochschorners. Their teammates, Cedric Forgit/Martin Braud, both aged 25, hit one gate in each run to place third with a total time of 211.64 seconds. Currently they are world No. 7.

World No. 3 Marek Jiras, 31, and Tomas Mader, 33, of Czech Republic, bronze medalists at Sydney 2000, made quite a few mistakes today. With an eight-second penalty in the first run and a four seconds in the second run, they had to be content with a ninth place in the heats. As it was Jiras's birthday today, a happy birthday song was played for him in the venue. Had they achieved a better result, Jiras might have been happier on this special day of his.

China's Duan Junjie/Duan Junqing, the 20-year-old twin brothers, and Mai Jianmin/Mo Bin, National Games champions, both qualified for tomorrow's semifinals by finishing eighth and tenth in the heats. Their teammates Hu Minghai and Shu Junrong, World Cup bronze medalists who delayed their time of completion for overturning their boat and missing a gate in the first run, were eliminated for finishing last among all the competitors.

Australia, Great Britain and Germany had one boat each into the semifinals. Altogether 10 boats qualified for the semifinals, including all three from Slovakia.

Women's K-1

A total of 21 paddlers participated in today's women's K-1 heats. Jana Dukatova of Slovakia, last year's world champion, was the fastest and the most agile in the whole course. In spite of a two-second penalty at Gate 17 on the second run, she came out on top with a time of 203.56 seconds. The slim girl, who stands 1.82 m tall, attributed her win to her long arms.

China's Li Jingjing, got a two-second penalty at Gate 5 not long after the start of the race but performed very well later. Ranking 20th in the world this year, she turned out to be the second with 208.56secs. Another Chinese paddler who did exceptionally well was Li Tong, who was very fast on the first run but made three mistakes, each costing her two seconds. She was more cautious on the second run, making no mistake at all but coming home slower to end up the fifth. Her younger teammate, 16-year-old Zou Yingying, made into the semifinals by placing 15th in the heats.

Marcela Sadilova, a 40-year-old veteran of Czech Republic, was very fast in the heats. But as she got six seconds added for three mistakes on her first run, she was eventually beaten to the third place. Another Czech veteran, 33-year-old Irena Pavelkova, missed one gate on each run today, which led to a severe penalty totaling 100 seconds and cost her the chance to compete in tomorrow's semifinals. As a fifth place finisher at the 2000 Olympics Pavelkova ranks seventh in the world this year. Her failure to make the semifinals turned out to be the biggest news today.

Perhaps the course was too diifficult for women paddlers, as five of them missed a total of eight gates between Gate 17 and Gate 20 gates. Generally speaking, gate missing is a rare scene among men paddlers.

All the three French paddlers made into tomorrow's semifinals, among whom Mathilde Pichery, who ranks 10th in the world, achieved the best result in the heats.

A total of 15 paddlers, including two from Great Britain, two from Australia, one from Germany and one from Holland, will participate in the semifinals tomorrow.