Three Tauranga paddlers will line up at the world canoe slalom championships starting today in the Czech Republic.
Olympians Luuka Jones and Mike Dawson are joined by young C1 (canoe) tyro Ben Gibb at the championships at the Prague Canoeing Centre in Troja.
K1 specialist Jones is coming off herbest world cup result - a 13th-placing in the latest round in Slovenia - and has used Prague as her European training base this year.
"The most recent world cups were good for me and I found a comfortable way to race and had a good mindset," Jones said.
"I really just want to replicate that composure this week and not to get caught up in the hype and temptation to try and paddle too fast, which can lead to penalties and mistakes. If I can have a race I am proud of then I'll be happy."
Jones has focused largely on technique this year, with High Performance Sport New Zealand funding Britain's Campbell Walsh to coach her through the season.
"It took a while to get used to a different way of paddling and my season started off pretty slow, with some shaky performances at the first world cups, which definitely threw me. I'm feeling pretty confident now, though, and looking forward to a big week."
Dawson has also been in good form and won last week's Devil's Extreme race on the Moldau River in the Czech Republic. He sits 22nd in the world cup rankings and is hungry for a good performance this week.
"I've had some consistent results this year, which is surprising given that I've spent the last nine months coming back from injury," Dawson said. "I feel like I'm getting some decent fitness and competition behind me now and I'm really looking forward to testing it against the best in the world."
Gibb has also used Prague as a base for the last five months and is hoping that will count in his C1. "I've been trying to learn every square metre of the course to give myself the best possible chance of racing well," he said.
The 21-year-old made the semifinals of a world cup last year and knows what he has to do to get back to that level.
"Just some small mistakes have been stopping me from making semifinals in Tacen and Bratislava this year but I've spent the last few weeks trying to fine-tune those errors out," Gibb said.
