German paddlers claimed the title in the men's kayak double (K2) 1,000m at the Beijing Olympics in Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park on Friday.

They finished the race with a result of three minutes and 11.809 seconds, followed by paddlers from Denmark (3:13.580) and Italy (3:14.750).

The German crew finished the race in sixth at Athens four years ago. The world best time for the event is 3:09.190, created by Italian paddlers at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

"Combination between us is quite good today. It's a hard race from the beginning to the end. I think at least six boats have the ability to win. But luckily, we were the first to hit the finish line," German paddler Andreas Ihle told Xinhua in the mixed zone.

"Three Olympic Games, gold, third time lucky. The first time fourth, the second time second, the third time first was going to happen," he commented on his participation in three Olympic Games.

His partner also said that the race was great.

"Super! What else can I say," Martin Hollsten said. "I should say I don't know why we played so harmoniously today. But we made it."

"I looked up at the 500m mark and just knew we'd done enough. It was such a hard race but we kept our cool. Definitely the race of my life," he noted.

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2008)