Rotorua Olympian Luuka Jones again made the World Cup semifinals.Photo/File
Rotorua Olympian Luuka Jones again made the World Cup semifinals.Photo/File
New Zealand kayaker Luuka Jones has made her third consecutive semifinal at the Prague round of the white water slalom World Cup series.
The 25-year-old Tauranga paddler qualified 22nd in the K1 division, despite touching gates in both her qualifying runs. Her first-round run of 93.57secs, with one 2sec penalty,was good enough to reach the top-30 semifinals, after coming off her best result in Slovenia last week, making the top-10 final at a World Cup for the first time.
Her fellow Olympian and Bay of Plenty paddler Mike Dawson could not repeat his fine form, meanwhile, missing the 13th gate in his second run to drop to 55th overall, shy of the top-40 qualifying for the semifinal.
Of the other Kiwis in action, Tauranga's Jane Nicholas was 50th in the K1 women's race, with her sister Ella - representing Cook Islands - 55th, while Finn Butcher was 59th, while another promising junior, Tauranga's Callum Gilbert, was 61st in the K1 men's ranks.
Jane Nicholas qualified for the C1 semifinals in 18th spot, while Tauranga duo Ben Gibb and Patrick Washer were 50th and 55th respectively in the C1 men.
