Finn Butcher caught the attention of some of the big names in canoe slalom with a sizzling first run in the men's K1 event on Tuesday (Wednesday NZ Time).
Butcher, 29, swept down the course in impressive fashion and was placed fourth in the field of 24 after the first run, with a time of 86.35 seconds, as one of only seven paddlers not to incur a penalty on the first run.
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With the top-20 paddlers progressing to Wednesday’s (Thursday NZT) semifinals, Butcher’s run assured he would be among them.
In his second run, he hit a gate and incurred a 50-second penalty, ending with 142.08, although it did not matter as after the two runs, Butcher qualified seventh-best.
Butcher, the pride of Central Otago, and Alexandra in particular, said it was a case of “first job done”.
“It was the first step in the process. I was happy to lay one down and get through to the next round,” he said.
“We don’t generally have huge crowds like this in canoe slalom. They cheered for everybody and it was a great atmosphere.”
Butcher said his first run had been a case of progressing as smoothly as possible.
“I wasn’t doing anything crazy; just making no errors and cruising through to get the job done. It put me in a good place.”
The New Zealander said that with the heat – this was the hottest day of the Olympics so far - and the fact that he had already assured himself of a spot in the semis, the second run was slightly awkward.
“I was feeling a bit cooked by then. I thought I’d try a different line at gate 11 and didn’t get the bounce back to the left that I was looking for, so I hit the gate. It didn’t really matter by then.”
Butcher’s 86.35 makes him very competitive with nearly everyone in the field, though the leader after the first day, Frenchman Titouan Castryck, recorded 83.71 and 80.09, the two fastest times.
Hamilton shooter Owen Robinson went heartbreakingly close to earning a place in the men’s trap shooting final in Paris.
The New Zealander had a mediocre first day, and his scores of 23, 25, 23 left him 19th in the field of 30.
However, Robinson, 32, turned his form around entirely in the final two rounds of qualifying, shooting a flawless 25, 25 sequence to finish with a respectable total of 121, which placed him 11th-equal, just one point off a qualifying score.
“It happens in this competition. That’s the sport. I’m gutted to have made a great comeback and be so close," said a philosophical Robinson.
“To pull myself back into the mix after my mistakes yesterday, today was great. I knew I had to shoot perfectly and dig deep, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to pull back yesterday’s score.”
New Zealand’s three swimmers in action on Tuesday were not able to find the form they were looking for, failing to progress in their events.
Lewis Clareburt was looking to finish in the top-16 among the 200m butterfly swimmers, but his time of 1 minutes 57.12 seconds placed him seventh in his heat, and was only good enough for 21st overall.
Cameron Gray joined 78 other swimmers in seeking a spot in the 100m freestyle semifinals. Gray finished sixth in his heat in 49.24 seconds, and overall was 31st.
Eve Thomas sought a berth in the 1500m final but her heat time of 16:13.74 placed her seventh and 12th place overall, missing the final.
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