Lisa Carrington has secured top spot in tomorrow night's K1 200m final winning her semi in a blistering time of 40.528.
The 23-year-old, whose time was an Olympic record, was too strong for her opponents overtaking Spain's Teresa Portela Rivas' time of 40.828 who took second and Ukraine's Inna Osypenko-Radomska
who crossed the line in 41.360.
The Ohope paddler had a much better start in her semi coming out of the blocks in second just behind Portela Rivas and powered through the first 100m to catch the Spaniard by the 150 mark.
Carrington looked smooth and in control the entire race with her time more than one second ahead of semifinal two's winner Russian Natalia Lobova in a time of 41.413 and Great Britain's Jess Walker 41.734.
Hungary's Natasa Douchev-Janics won the third semi in a time of 40.570 with Marta Walczykiewicz second in a time of 40.905.
Portugal's Teresa Portela and Osypenko-Radomska qualified for the final with the two fastest third place times.
The final gets underway tomorrow at 9.14pm (NZ time).