(BEIJING, August 20) -- Canadian paddler Thomas Hall topped the first semifinal in the Men's Flatwater Canoe Single (C1) 1000 meter and will advance to the final.

　　Hall finished in 3:58.820 minutes, followed by Florin Georgian Mironcic of Romania at 3:59.664 minutes and Aldo Pruna of Cuba with 4:01.745 minutes.

　　Mathieu Goubel of France finished the second semifinal with the fastest time of the day, in 3:57.607 minutes. Andreas Dittmer of Germany finished second in 3:58.595 minutes, also just slightly faster than Hall's time in the first semifinal race. Belarus' Aliaksandr Zhukovski finished third to become the last qualifiers in 3:58.851 minutes.

　　Fourth place in the second semifinal was Marcin Grzybowski of Poland with 4:00.226 minutes, a time that could have qualified him in third place in the first semifinal, but was not enough to advance out of his race.

　　These top three finishers in each semifinal, six paddlers total, qualified for advancement and will compete in the C1 1000m final on Friday, August 22.