[1] The event was won by Romanians Marioara Popescu and Elisabeta Lipă (then Elisabeta Oleniuc); it was the first of Lipă's 5 Olympic gold medals (and 8 total Olympic medals).

The Austrians and Americans were further back, with Austria holding a very slight lead for third place.

Over the second half of the course, the Swedes pulled closer but were unable to catch the Norwegians.

The Austrians fell back to fourth place, finishing nearly 6 seconds after the Americans.

The results of the second group were more important, as the top 4 boats advanced to the main final; the Americans pulled closer to the lead group while the British and Austrian boats fell further behind.

The Romanians established a 1-second lead by halfway, increasing to a final margin of victory of nearly 2.4 seconds.

The Norwegian boat, despite winning its heat, found itself in a tight race for 5th and 6th place against the Americans, beating them by only a quarter-second.