Kiwi kayaker Luuka Jones makes world champs semifinals

Luuka Jones was 12th fastest in her heat to comfortably progress. PHOTO/FILE

It was a day of mixed fortunes for Tauranga paddlers at the canoe slalom world championships in Pau, France.

The top Kiwi kayaker at the event, Luuka Jones, has continued her strong form overnight, qualifying for the semifinals of the K1.

Jones, the reigning Olympic silver medallist, was comfortably inside the top 20 who progressed automatically from the first heat at the course in Pau. Even with a 2sec penalty for clipping gate 19, she was 12th-fastest with a time of 90.65secs. Without the penalty, her raw time would have placed her in the top five.

Her K1 showing came a day after she also qualified 12th in the C1 discipline and Jones was delighted to have minimised a busy week by not having to go through the repechage rounds.

"It was a solid run but nothing fancy - it's just great to get the job done without exerting too much energy in a second run," Jones said.

New Zealand teammates Kensa Randle and Courtney Williams were 47th and 51st in their first runs amidst a quality field and though they improved slightly in the second round, still missed a place in the semifinals.

Patrick Washer (Tauranga) was the best of the Kiwi C1 men meanwhile, finishing 48th in the first round while teammates Ben Gibb (Tauranga) and Shaun Higgins (Tauranga) missed gates, with Washer 20th in his second run with a 90.75sec effort, just 3.17secs off progressing.