High winds have disrupted the opening of the canoe slalom world championships in Slovakia, providing both delight and dismay for the New Zealand-based contingent.
The dismay came from Tauranga's Ella Nicholas, who is representing Cook Islands at the championships. Nicholas, currently studying medicine at Otago University, had a clean fastrun as winds buffeted the course in the first run of the K1 women's heats.
As the competition progressed and the conditions worsened, her time looked increasingly like securing a top-30 semifinal spot and with it, a likely Olympic qualification spot.
Eventually, however, the race jury met and deemed that the first run results would be nullified and the race would start again in better conditions, which are forecast for tonight.
That was good news for the three other New Zealand paddlers in the K1 women's division, with 2008 Beijing Olympian Luuka Jones, Nikki Whitehead (Te Puke) and Otaki's Louise Jull all making mistakes on their first runs.
Having lost the first two days, organisers are likely to start all divisions tonight, with Mike Dawson and fellow Bay of Plenty paddlers Aaron Osborne and Johann Roozenburg competing in men's K1, and Brent Bastin, Ben Gibb and Shaun Higgins racing in the C1 canoe.
More than 400 athletes from 50 countries are competing at the championships, which are the main Olympic qualifying route.
