Beijing Olympian Warwick Draper survived a nerve-wracking wait to secure the fifth and final place on Australia’s slalom canoe team nominated for the London Games on Sunday.

Victorian Draper, who finished fifth in the men’s K1 in Beijing, earned another crack at an Olympic medal by holding off challenges from New South Welshman Will Forsythe and Sam Lyons at the Oceania Championships in Sydney.

Draper had set a time of 96.57 seconds in the contest at Penrith Whitewater Stadium, including a two-second penalty for touching a gate, but had to sit back and watch as the others tried to beat his time.

Forsythe almost pipped him, with his time fractionally better than Draper’s, but disaster struck as he touched the gate and a penalty saw his Olympic chances disappear.

“I think relieved is the biggest word to describe it,” Draper, 35, said after the event.

“Especially after doing a run that I wasn’t happy with.

“I was pretty frustrated at the bottom after not finishing it off the way I liked.”

Draper’s performance saw him included in a five-strong canoe slalom team to be nominated to Australian Olympic Committee for selection.

The team also features Sydney teenager Jessica Fox, who sealed the nation’s sole K1 women’s position with a dominant performance in Penrith on Friday.

The daughter of whitewater world champions Richard and Myriam showed remarkable composure in a cut-throat qualification process by completing a sweep of the first two of three selection races to end the hopes of world-class rivals Ros and Kate Lawrence and Sarah Grant.

Kynan Maley was the best Australian during the C1 heats on Friday and finished ahead of his local rivals in the semi-finals to meet the criteria for nomination.

The Sydneysider is set to team up with Robin Jeffery in the men’s C2 event.

The pair was hot favourite and claimed the right for nomination as the best Australian boat in the C2 event in Penrith.

Australia’s canoe slalom team to be nominated to the AOC to compete at the London Olympic Games:

C1 Men: Kynan Maley, C2 Men: Kynan Maley and Robin Jeffery, K1 Women: Jessica Fox, K1 Men: Warwick Draper