Stephan Breuing

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Stephan Breuing (born 21 September 1985 in Bochum) is a German flatwater canoer and current (2006) world and European champion in the Canadian canoe C4 1000m.

At the age of just fifteen, competing against athletes up to three years older, Breuing won two gold medals at the 2001 World Junior Championships in Curitiba, Brazil. His victories in the C2 500m (partnering Tomasz Wylenzek) and C4 1000m made him the youngest champion since Ronald Rauhe. A year later Breuing was entered for the individual (C1) event at the European junior championships in Zagreb, Croatia, and won the 1000m bronze medal. In 2004, though still technically a junior, he competed at the the European Under-23 Championships and won the C2 500m gold medal with partner Thomas Lueck.

Having been rapidly promoted to Germany's senior C4 crew, Breuing won his first senior European Championship title in Poznań, Poland in 2005. The same crew of Nuck / Holtz / Breuing / Lueck also won bronze medals over 200m and 500m. At the World Championships in Zagreb, the German four won a bronze medal in their strongest event, the 1000m.

In 2006 Breuing and his teammates retained their European title in Račice, Czech Republic, setting a new world record time of 3:14.459. At the 2006 World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, they became the first German crew ever to win the C4 1000m world title.

Breuing is 180cm (5'11") tall and weighs 80kg (176 lbs). He is a member of the Wiking Bochum Canoe Club and is trained by Heinz Zimmer.