Kayaking: Dawson paddles into ninth place

Waiariki Academy of Sport kayaker Mike Dawson has recorded his best result at a world cup event. Photo/James Dawson

Waiariki Academy of Sport kayaker Mike Dawson has paddled his way to one of New Zealand's finest results on the canoe slalom world stage.

Olympian Dawson finished ninth at the latest world cup in Slovenia at the weekend.

Dawson, 27, and fellow Kiwi slalom kayaker Luuka Jones both made finals in their respective K1 divisions. It was the first time Jones had made the final at a world cup.

Meanwhile, it was the second final for Dawson, although his ninth-placing surpassed his efforts on the same Tacen course in Ljubljana nearly three years ago.

"I'm stoked to have reached the final again. I've had too many quick runs spoiled by penalties and it was great to put together a clean run in the semifinals," Dawson said.

He qualified in eighth in the 63-boat field with a faultless 100.78sec run on the technically challenging Tacen course and dropped a spot in the final, after touching the sixth gate and earning a two-second penalty.

German Fabian Doefler won by just 0.2 seconds, heading off Italian Andrea Romeo with a winning time of 97.12.

Jones stumbled in her final, with a faint touch on gate 14 throwing off her rhythm. She missed two of the next three gates and eventually finished in 10th in a strong field headed by Slovakian Jana Dukatova.

But her progress past the semifinal stage marked a major milestone, a week after finishing 12th at the first world cup of the year in London.

"Obviously the final didn't go to plan but I had a clear semifinal and it's definitely satisfying to be building some consistency at this level," Jones said.

The Kiwi pair now move on to familiar water in the Czech Republic, where both have been based in Prague during recent seasons, for next week's third world cup.