Three-time Olympic champion Andreas Dittmer of Germany earned a berth for the final of the Olympic canoe flatwater single (C1) 1,000m after a hard second-chance race on Wednesday.

Dittmer came in second with a time of 3 minutes, 58.595 seconds, almost one second slower than Mathieu Goubel of France in the second semifinal. The top three in each semifinal progressed to final.

"It was a good semifinal. It was a good result for me and leads to a good feeling for the final," Goubel said.

On Monday, the 36-year-old came in second behind his arch rival, defending Olympic champion David Cal of Spain, and failed to advance directly into the final scheduled for Friday.

The German won the C1 500m gold medal and C1 1,000m silver in Athens. He also took the C2 1,000m title in Atlanta and the C1 1,000m title in Sydney.

Dittmer will join strong favorites Cal and Attila Sandor Vajda of Hungary, bronze medalist in Athens and reigning world champion, to seek his fourth Olympic gold in Beijing.

On Tuesday, he finished in a disappointing fourth in the second heat of C1 500m and failed to advance straight into the final as the winner.

Three Chinese boats, the men's kayak double (K2), K4 and C2 all in the distance of 1,000m, also progressed into the final.

"We were conservative today and didn't paddle to our best in the last 500 meters," said Liu Haitao, a crew member in the men's K4.

"It's (entering the final) already China's best result in the event, and we'll strive to make true our years-long dream for a medal in the final."

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2008)