KEY POINTS:
When Ben Fouhy grabbed the silver medal in the K1 1000m in Athens three years ago, it broke a 16-year Olympic canoeing medal drought for New Zealand.
It's more accurate to describe New Zealand's Olympic paddling success as coming in waves. There were gold, silver and bronze medals
in Seoul in 1988 for Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald to follow the avalanche of gongs for the pair, plus Alan Thompson and Grant Bramwell in Los Angeles four years earlier.
Since then, nothing until Fouhy's flourish in Greece when he finished 1.5s behind Norwegian Eirik Veraas Larsen.
Fouhy, the world champion a year earlier, was desperate for gold but he put New Zealand back as a player on the international canoeing map.
This week, an eight-strong New Zealand canoeing team is off to Europe with trips to the Beijing Olympics next year as the long-term carrot. Among them are five women, with hopes of at least some gaining entry through the world championships at Duisberg, Germany in August.
The worlds are about automatically qualifying your country, as distinct from individual paddlers, for Beijing. Paddlers must finish in the top six for an automatic spot.
For some disciplines there is a final, sudden-death qualifier - in Oceania nations' case, in Penrith early next year.
Fouhy will contest the K1 1000 again; Steven Ferguson the K1 500m; Ferguson and fellow North Shore paddler Mike Walker the K2 1000m.
Of the women, the biggest hopes rest with the K4 500m crew, who have impressed since being assembled late last year. Australia are tipped to get an automatic spot in the top six in that event, but New Zealand are a strong chance to be the Oceania representative under the International Olympic Committee's qualifying criteria, a document which requires close scrutiny.
Fouhy and Ferguson should qualify, and Ferguson and Walker can be expected to at least go close. "The worst Ben's ever achieved in the worlds is fifth, so it's highly unlikely he'll fall below sixth," team manager Grant Restall said yesterday.
"Steven's been paddling extremely well recently and while Ferguson and Walker haven't had a lot of work together, the indications are hopefully they can get a finals spot, if not be a medal prospect at the worlds."
After their World Cup regattas, the squad return home for about five weeks before heading for Germany.
There's no guarantee this squad will remain intact for the worlds. That depends on performances at the cup regattas.
The women have been in camp for a month in New Plymouth, Fouhy has been working with his new coach, Mark Sutherland, at Lake Karapiro and Ferguson and Walker spent time training in Rotorua.
It's possible a men's K4 team could get to the worlds. It will be a younger quartet, who are going into camp shortly. If they produce times to impress, the national selectors, former Olympian John MacDonald and Gavin Elmiger, can send them to Duisberg.
No one finishing outside the top 16 - even if they are the top in their continent - can qualify in a bid to safeguard the quality of the fields.
The athletes and management assemble in the Czech Republic next Wednesday for two weeks acclimatising and training ahead of the Szeged regatta.
New Zealand Squad
* K1 500m: Steven Ferguson (North Shore); Kristina Anglem (Christchurch), Erin Taylor (Auckland)
* K1 1000: Ben Fouhy (North Shore)
* K2 1000m: Ferguson and Mike Walker (North Shore); Connie Richards and Agnes Szabo (both New Plymouth)
* K4 500m: Richards, Taylor, Anglem, Szabo(Anne Cairns of Palmerston North will contest the K4 200m, a non-Olympic event)
Key dates
* World Cup regattas: Szeged, Hungary May 18-20; and Gerardmer, France, June 1-3
* World championships: Duisberg, Germany, August 9-12
