Tomasz Wylenzek (Polish: Tomasz Wylenżek) (born 9 January 1983 in Nowe Chechło, Silesia, Poland) is a German sprint canoeist who has competed since the early 2000s.

Tomasz Wylenzek Olympic Champion Canoe Sprint
Tomasz Wylenzek
Medal record
Men's canoe sprint
Representing  Germany
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens C-2 1000 m
Silver medal – second place 2008 Beijing C-2 1000 m
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Beijing C-2 500 m
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2005 Zagreb C-2 500 m
Gold medal – first place 2005 Zagreb C-2 1000 m
Gold medal – first place 2007 Duisburg C-2 1000 m
Gold medal – first place 2009 Dartmouth C-2 1000 m
Gold medal – first place 2011 Szeged C-2 1000 m
Silver medal – second place 2005 Zagreb C-2 200 m
Silver medal – second place 2006 Szeged C-2 200 m
Silver medal – second place 2007 Duisburg C-2 200 m
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Duisburg C-2 500 m
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Poznań C-4 1000 m

Wylenzek won two junior world championship titles in 2001 at Curitiba, Brazil. The following year, still only 19, he was promoted to the German senior squad as C-2 partner for the more experienced Christian Gille. At the 2002 World Championships in Seville, they finished seventh in the 500 m final.

At Wylenzek's first Olympics in Athens, he and Gille won a surprise gold in the C-2 1000 m event.

In 2005 Gille and Wylenzek completely dominated the C-2 event, showing that their Athens victory was no fluke. A clean sweep of medals (200 m, 500 m and 1000 m) at the European Championships in Poznań, Poland, in May was followed by two golds (500 m and 1000 m) at the World Championships in Zagreb.

2006 proved a disappointment after the highs of the previous two years. Gille and Wylenzek lost out to Stefan Holtz and Robert Nuck in the German C-2 500 m trial and were therefore unable to defend their European and world titles over that distance. Wylenzek was philosophical as they lost their other titles too, coming away with just two silver medals at the major championships (European C-2 1000 m and world C-2 200 m).

Wylenzek won two more Olympic medals at Beijing in 2008 with a silver in the C-1 1000 m and a bronze in the C-2 500 m events. since those games, he has won two more world championships medals with a gold in 2009 (C-2 1000 m) and a bronze in 2010 (C-4 1000 m).

Wylenzek lives in Essen. He is 183 centimetres (6 feet 0 inches) tall and weighs 85 kg (187 lb).

References

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  • Canoe09.ca profile
  • "ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936–2007" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on January 5, 2010. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  • "ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936–2007" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  • Official website (in German)
  • Tomasz Wylenzek at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
  • Sunnyboy mit starkem Finish[permanent dead link] Markus Wessel / WDR.de