Tauranga paddler Luuka Jones in action. Photo / File
Tauranga paddler Luuka Jones in action. Photo / File
Tauranga's Luuka Jones has finished sixth in a highly-competitive K1 women's final at the Australian canoe slalom championships in Penrith on Saturday.
Jones was the only Kiwi to progress to the finals on the second day of competition and her 112.09 second run left her 8.32 seconds adrift of hometownwinner and reigning world champion Jess Fox.
Fox had a convincing win with a clean 103.77 second run, putting her 3.47 seconds clear of 2017 world championships bronze medallist Ricarda Funk (Germany).
Some of the biggest names in world slalom are contesting the championship at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium and it was the international paddlers who dominated the men's C1 with Rio 2016 Olympic champion Denis Gargaud Chanut from France taking the win.
Chanut had a clean run and a finishing time of 98.68 that saw him 1.01 seconds ahead of Rio 2016 silver medallist Matej Benus (Slovakia). Slovenia's 2014 C2 world champion Luka Bozic finished third.
Jones and fellow Kiwi Kelly Travers have made the semifinals of the women's C1, while Tauranga's Callum Gilbert — who agonisingly missed the New Zealand senior men's team in a tight selection battle — is the only Kiwi in the men's K1 semifinals.
