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Journalism of Courage
Slovakian twins Peter and Pavol Hochschorner remained on course for an unprecedented third straight gold in the white water canoe pairs event despite error-plagued preliminary runs on Wednesday.
The Hochschorners, the clear favourites, took first by a comfortable margin ahead of France’s Cedric Forgit and Martin Braud, but were not happy with their performance.
“We’re not very happy, we had errors, especially in the last upstream gate,” Peter said. “Today was just training though.”
The world number one duo does not expect an easier run in Thursday’s final.
“There’s no (such thing as) certain victory,” Pavol said. “Tomorrow will be harder.”
In the women’s singles kayak event, Slovakia’s Elena Kaliska, the defending champion, took top spot after compensating for a sluggish first attempt with the day’s fastest run on her second try.
China’s Li Jingjing, ranked 13th in the world, surprised the field with a second-place finish thanks to two consistent runs and world number one Stepanka Hilgertova of the Czech Republic, who is seeking a third Olympic gold after winning in 1996 and 2000, finished third.
