(BEIJING, August 21) -- The semifinal runs of the Canoe/Kayak Flatwater Women's Kayak Single (K1) 500 meter event concluded on August 21, with the top three finishers in each run qualified to the final.

　　In the first run, Ukraine's Inna Osypenko-Radomska placed first with a time of 1:51.558 minutes. Great Britain's Lucy Wainwright finished second trailing 1.022 seconds. Jennifer Hodson of South Africa placed third clocking 1:53.209 minutes.

　　Sweden's Sofia Paldanius, the 2008 ICF Flatwater Pozna�� World Cup silver medalist, only ranked fifth in this group.

　　In the second run, China's Zhong Hongyan passed the finishing line first in 1:53.163 minutes, 0.440 seconds ahead of Russia's Yuliana Salakhova. Slovenia's Spela Ponomarenko placed third with a time of 1:53.812.

　　New Zealand's 2008 ICF Flatwater Pozna�� World Cup bronze medalist Erin Taylor ranked fifth in this group and was eliminated from the final.

　　Before the semifinal, defending champion Katalin Kovacs of Hungary, seven-time Olympian Josefa Idem of Italy and two-time Olympic gold medalist Katrin Wagner-Augustin of Germany all gained their final spots by finishing first in three qualification heat runs.

　　The final will take place at 4:20 p.m. (UTC/GMT +8) on August 23.