Canoe Slalom New Zealand is extremely proud of our Olympic athlete Luuka Jones and her performance in the K1 Women’s event.

From a field of 27 of the worlds top female paddlers including medallists from Rio and London, Jones qualified her way through the heats (3rd best) and semis (5th best) to qualify as one of the Top 10 competitors to contest the Tokyo 2020 final.

The 25-gate course has been described this week by the media and commentators as brutal and treacherous with the athletes needing to call on all their strength, agility and mental toughness to navigate the course after a short turnaround from the semi-final.

Jones completed the course penalty free in a time of 110.67 and was sitting in third place at the conclusion of her run, but with the other paddlers to follow their times pushed her out to a final placing of sixth.

Canoe Slalom NZ Chair, Kerry Bloor said his household was like many others of the paddling community this week, glued to the television with lots of shouting and cheering going on as Jones raced. “Luuka is loved and respected by our paddling community, it was a very tough course but I want Luuka to know that every person within Canoe Slalom NZ will be equally as proud of you and your achievement as I am. Your discipline and dedication for this sport you love is second to none and your success has benefited every paddler in our program.”

Tomorrow Jones will be back on the water contesting the Women’s C1 event and Callum Gilbert will make his Olympic debut in the Men’s K1 event.

The NZ Team

High Performance Sport New Zealand

Article added: Tuesday 27 July 2021