German canoers win women’s 500-meter K-2

Published August 9, 2012 9:51am ET



WINDSOR, England (AP) — Franziska Weber and Tina Dietze of Germany won the women’s 500-meter K-2 at Dorney Lake on Thursday, denying their Hungarian rivals a third straight Olympic title in the event.

The Germans led from start to finish to win in 1 minutes 42.213 seconds. Katalin Kovacs and Natasa Douchev-Janics of Hungary took the silver medal and Karolina Naja and Beata Mikolajczyk of Poland won the bronze.

Weber and Dietze were part of a German quartet whose 16-year dominance of the 500-meter K-4 ended Wednesday. They were beaten by a Hungary boat containing Kovacs.

But they bounced back to reclaim the title last won for Germany by two of their greatest Olympians — Birgit Fischer and Katrin Wagner-Augustin — in 2000.