Mike Dawson's medal chance slips away

The Olympics turned out to be two gates too far for Rotorua-based paddler Mike Dawson this morning.

Competing in front of a 12,500 strong crowd, Dawson didn't make it past the semifinals of the men's canoe slalom at the Lee Valley White Water Centre.

Despite a strong start, ultimately Dawson's Olympics came to an end at gate 19 of the 23 gate course.

Fifteen paddlers were vying for a place in the 10 man final and like two other competitors Ireland's Eoin Rheinisch and Swiss Mike Kurt, Dawson missed gate 19 ending any chance of making the final.

Dawson failed to qualify for the finals after being penalized 100 seconds for missing two gates.

This time, Dawson's mother had nothing to do with it.

Kay Dawson, a judge for the event, penalized her son two seconds for hitting a gate on Sunday. Mike Dawson still qualified for the semifinals, but he missed a wave toward the end of his run and failed to go through two consecutive gates.

Each miss cost him 50 seconds, putting Dawson in last place. But Kay Dawson was stationed at an earlier gate, which Mike passed through without any issues.

"It's a sport with so many variables. It's real easy to make mistakes, especially when you're racing semifinals and you're pushing everything to get one of those elusive 10 spots which fill up pretty fast," Dawson said. "There's no holding back and trying to play it safe."

Known affectionately by his mates as "Mutant", the Waiariki Institute of Technology's Sports Academy student had to watch from the bank of the man-made course as Italy's Daniele Molmenti won in a time of 93.43s to take gold, with Czech Republic's Vavrinec Hradilek and Germany's Hannes Aigner taking silver and bronze respectively.

It was Dawson's first Olympics and finished 15th in a time of 207.63s a credible finish for the former Tauranga Boys' High pupil who began racing at 13 and made his first national team two years later.

In the final, Hradilek set the tone with a fast early run that few in the field seemed able to match. But Molmenti was ahead of Hradilek's pace much of the way and crossed in 93.43 seconds.

The 25-year-old Hradilek was just eighth in qualifying but put down a clean run through the rough currents of the Lee Valley White Water Centre and had the crowd gasping afterward.

Molmenti did even better though, and now has an Olympic gold to add to his 2010 world championship and trio of European titles.

Slovenia's Peter Kauzer qualified with the best time for the finals. But the pre-race favorite had a rather sloppy final run and settled for sixth more than seven seconds behind Molmenti.

Poland's Mateusz Polaczyk was fourth, just 1.22 seconds behind Molmenti.

Despite Dawson's disappointment New Zealand had something to celebrate with rowers Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown picking up a bronze behind Great Britain pair Helen Glover and Heather Stanning in the women's pair. Australians Kate Hornsey and Sarah Tait won silver.

New Zealand are now 34th ( two bronze) on the medal table behind China (27) United States (26) and France (12).

Results:

1 Daniele Molmenti (Italy), 93.43; 2 Vavrinec Hradilek (Czech Republic), 94.78; 3 Hannes Aigner (Germany), 94.92; 15 Mike Dawson (New Zealand), 207.63

- AP