Gate touches taint day for Kiwi kayakers at Canoe Slalom World Championships in Brazil

Gate touches conspired against New Zealand's top kayakers on the penultimate day of the Canoe Slalom World Championships in Brazil.

Luuka Jones finished seventh in her women's K1 final, after hitting gate 15 and picking up a 2s penalty with a total time of 109.68s.

She was 7.62s behind Australia's Jessica Fox, who won her sixth individual canoe slalom title, successfully defended her 2017 K1 world crown and became the most successful individual paddler in the history of the sport.

The agony continued for Jones in her C1 semifinal; three touches dropped her to 12th and out of contention for the final.

Jones' raw time of 119.34s would have been good enough for fifth-fastest, but touches on the 13th, 15th and 22nd gates left her just 1.64s outside the top 10.

Fox qualified second-fastest, as the Australian looks to create more history and become the first paddler to go through an entire World Cup and World Championship season unbeaten.

Kiwi kayaker Mike Dawson in action at the Canoe Slalom World Championships in Brazil. Photo / Martina Wegman

Mike Dawson also had a day to forget, picking up two touches in the men's K1 semifinal to finish 34th. He was 8.94s behind fastest qualifier and Olympic champion Joe Clarke, with the top 10 qualifiers all within 2.55s of each other.

Dawson will be in action on the final day, however, after qualifying for the extreme slalom quarterfinals. He created history with New Zealand's inaugural world championship medal - a bronze - in the same event last year.