Luuka Jones wins gold at the Whitewater XL

TOP CLASS: Tauranga paddler Luuka Jones celebrates after winning at the Whitewater XL event at the Vector Wero Whitewater Park in Auckland. Photo: Jamie Troughton Dscribe Media

Luuka Jones waited four long days, ironically until her least favoured event, before climbing to the top of the podium at the Whitewater XL kayaking event in Auckland.

The Rio Olympic canoe slalom silver medalist took out the boatercross final at the Vector Wero Whitewater Park on Sunday, after a series of frustrating finishes in her K1 and C1 finals.

It capped a huge week for the sport, with the $60,000 event the biggest kayaking championship ever staged in New Zealand, and Jones was delighted to share in the spoils.

"I saved it to the last day of the competition but I was really fired up," Jones said.

"The boatercross is the event that I'm least likely to win and I was even a little bit scared but after a couple of runs, my anaerobic strength came through and I could get the speed off the start."

That speed took her to an early lead in the four-boat final, holding off Dutch paddler Martina Wegman, top Frenchwoman Nouria Newman and world extreme champion Sandra Hyslop (Great Britain).

German Stefan Hengst also got off to a great start in the men's final, powering off the 5m start ramp and edging clear of Czech Republic star Vavra Hradilek and Kiwis Mike Dawson and surprise finalist Carl Whitehead.

"It was pretty hard racing guys like Vavra and Mike and I was a bit nervous at the start because they're so strong and can go so fast," 22-year-old Hengst said.

The result pulled him into second-place overall in the men's K1 overall standings, sandwiched between two more Czech paddlers, winner Ondrej Tunka and third-placed Vit Prindis.

Jones was ecstatic with the inaugural event's success and has high hopes for next year.

"Everyone who's come out has absolutely loved it. Friends have been messaging me from overseas saying how gutted they are not to be here and they're all fired up to come out next year."

On Saturday, in the C1, recently crowned Bay of Plenty Junior Sportsman of the Year Gilbert impressed in finishing fifth in a top-class field behind Franz Anton (Germany), Matej Benus (Slovakia), Cedric Joly (France) and Edern Le Ruyet (France).