New Zealand kayaker Luuka Jones on her way to 11th at the canoe slalom world championships in London. Photo / Dscribe Media Services
Bay of Plenty's Luuka Jones is hoping to harness world championship pain to fuel her third Olympic canoe slalom campaign in Rio de Janeiro.
The 26-year-old kayaker came agonisingly close to qualifying for the top-10 final at the world championships in London at the weekend, finishing just 0.10secs outside the
medal race in 11th.
Two 2sec penalties derailed an otherwise superb run on the brutal Lee Valley course, although she comfortably qualified a K1 women's spot for New Zealand at next year's Olympics.
"I wasn't even concentrating on that this weekend but qualifying is obviously a really good outcome," an otherwise disappointed Jones said. "I was really lucky to qualify for Beijing so young and London was a great experience but now I've got so much support behind me, Rio should be a really good games. There's enough time to have a good solid build-up and work on a few things."
Jones will have watched fellow BOP paddler Mike Dawson attempt to go one better than her in the men's K1, which was held overnight at the world champs.
