Yu Shimeng (R) and Chen Yule (L). [Photo/hangzhou.com.cn]

The Paris Olympics saw the debut of canoeing events at the Marne-la-Vallee water sports stadium on Aug 6. Six athletes from Zhejiang, including Wang Congkang, Wang Nan, Li Dongyin, Ji Bowen, Yu Shimeng, and Chen Yule, participated, with many advancing to the next round.

In the women's 500m four-person kayak event, Wang Nan and Li from Zhejiang, along with teammates Sun Yuewen and Yin Mengdie, secured third place in their heat with a time of 1:33.64, qualifying directly for the A final on Aug 8.

Yu and Chen also performed well, finishing second in their women's 500m two-person kayak heat with a time of 1:42.70 and advancing to the semifinals. Seventeen-year-old Chen, from Linpu town in Xiaoshan, is the youngest member of China's canoeing team at this year's Olympics.

In the men's 500m two-person canoe heat, Zhejiang's Ji and teammate Liu Hao overtook the Spanish team in the latter half of the race to claim first place in their heat, advancing directly to the semifinals.

However, in the men's 500m four-person kayak event, Wang Congkang, along with Zhang Dong, Bu Tingkai, and Dong Yi, failed to advance from the heats and narrowly missed the semifinals by 0.22 seconds in the quarterfinals, ending their Olympic journey in Paris.

On Aug 7, Wang Nan and Ji will compete in the heats for the women's 500m single kayak and men's 1,000m single canoe events, respectively.

Liu Hao and Ji Bowen. [Photo/hangzhou.com.cn]