KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's hopes of sending five kayakers to the Beijing Olympics comes down to two transtasman duels on the Penrith flat water near Sydney this morning.
Troy Burbridge and Erin Taylor will go head-to-head with Australia's leading hopefuls to decide Oceania's sole representative in the respective K1 500m events at Beijing.
Burbridge, New Zealand's nominated representative, has to beat Australia's nominated paddler Tony Schumacher in the K1 500m qualification heat to book a Games spot, while Taylor also has to beat her nominated Australian counterpart in the women's qualification heat.#It makes for high drama on day one of the five-day Oceania championships west of Sydney, which doubles as the Olympic qualification regatta.
"They get one chance and they have to win, it's as simple as that," New Zealand coach Ian Ferguson said yesterday.
"It's going to be really close, I'd rate their chances about 50-50."
Athens silver medallist Ben Fouhy, who recently linked with Olympic champion Paul MacDonald as his coach, has already qualified for the K1 1000m at Beijing, as has K2 1000m pairing Steven Ferguson and Mike Walker.
All three will compete in Sydney as part of their Olympic preparations this week.
Ian Ferguson said a kayaking team of five at Beijing was their optimum number, after Fouhy and Ferguson junior were the only paddlers in Athens.
Taylor continued her domination of the women's ranks with a 3sec win in the K1 500m final at the national champs this month, having also starred in the surf lifesaving ranks for the New Zealand team at the International Surf Challenge in Sydney in December.
Ferguson said Taylor had been getting better "all the time" and was ranked in the world's top-16 on world championship performances last year.
Burbridge has been racing overseas in crew boats but returned to finish a close third to Fouhy and Ferguson in the K1 500m at the nationals, before edging Ferguson for second behind Fouhy in the K1 1000m final.
Samoa's Rudolph Berking and Guam's Sean Pangelinan are also seeking the Oceania spot in the men's K1 500m race at Penrith but aren't expected to test Burbridge or Schumacher.
Australia has so far qualified three boats for Beijing, the men's K1 1000m, men's K4 1000m and women's K4 500m.
Ferguson said New Zealand didn't have the depth to attempt to qualify a K4 boat.
Other New Zealanders listed in today's flatwater K1 heats are James Scott, Fred Teear, Marty McDowell in the men's events, and Anne Cairns, Jamie Lovett and Connie Richards in the women's.
- NZPA
