Dittmer through

The 36-year-old Dittmer, who won gold in the 500, 1,000 and 1,000 double in Athens, Sydney and Atlanta respectively, finished just behind France's Mathieu Goubel, who led from the start to the delight of the strong French contingent in the crowd.

Dittmer had to contest the semi-final after finishing second in his heat behind Spain's Olympic champion David Cal, who took the only direct entry to the final, but the German should still challenge for a medal in the 1,000 and 500 metre finals.

Australia's Ken Wallace, who has been tipped to follow in the footsteps of Australian 1992 Olympic champion Clint Robinson, won a semi-final of the men's 1,000 kayak in commanding style.

Wallace, who is competing at his first Olympic Games, led for the first 500 metres before briefly losing the lead to South Africa's Shaun Rubenstein. He was then pushed hard to the finish by New Zealand's Ben Fouhy and Sweden's Markus Oscarsson.

He will face Britain's World Champion Tim Brabants, Athens 2004 Olympic champion Eirik Veraas Larsen from Norway and Canada's world cup winner Adam van Koeverden in the final.

"I wanted to just get out in front and try and control the race," Wallace said on the side of the lake while trying to catch his breath.

"I was leading through the 500 and then basically I could feel where everyone was. But it wasn't a slouch semi that was for sure. Between the top five or six of us (in the event), we've all trained together at one point in time and we all get on together really good.

"There are some favourites like Adam and Tim and Eirik (and) it'll be down to whoever has it in the legs in the last 150 because everyone is about the same."

Three Chinese crews also qualified for the 1,000 metre finals in the K2, C2 and K4, to delight their chanting fans. The 1,000 metre finals will be held on Friday.