The composition of Australia’s canoe slalom team for the Olympic Games started to take shape over the weekend with racing at Penrith Whitewater Stadium, the 2000 Games venue.
In the Men’s K1 at the Slalom Australian Open, Victorian Warwick Draper edged into the reckoning for London with his 12th place in the semi-final, the best finish by an eligible Australian paddler.
Lucien Delfour finished a respectable sixth but, as he doesn’t have citizenship, he can’t be on the Olympic team.
However, Delfour has a solid claim on a place in the Australian team to compete in the World Cup circuit in Europe in a few months.
Sunday’s race was won by Germany’s Sebastian Schubert who beat Slovenia’s World Champion Peter Kauzer by 1.29sec.
Robin Jeffery and Kynan Maley finished 6th in the pairs to take a giant stride towards being nominated for the Olympic team.
“We’re pretty happy. We still improved our time,” Maley said.
“There are lots we can improve. In this sport it’s the errors that cost you the most.”
French pair Gauthier Klauss and Matthiue Peche took gold in the Men’s C2, edging Slovenia’s Saso Taljat and Luka Bozic by 0.14s.
British paddlers David Florence and Richard Hounslow were third, 1.76s behind the French.
Australia’s Jessica Fox won the Women’s C1 final by a stunning 18.93 seconds over Katerina Macova of Slovakia.
Fellow Sydney paddler Ros Lawrence was third in the event that unfortunately is not on the Olympic program.
Final Olympic selection decisions will be made after another two days of racing later this month at the Oceania Championships, also to be held at Penrith.