Jones powers to eighth K1 title

Luuka Jones romped to her eighth K1 title at the New Zealand canoe slalom championships over the weekend and narrowly missed adding the C1 double as she eyes a busy year on the world stage.

With a Cyclone Cookcompressed schedule and record fields of paddlers, the two-day championships also saw a clutch of young talent coming through on the Tarawera River in Kawerau.

But none could touch Olympic silver medallist Jones in the K1 final.

The 28-year-old clocked 84.61sec in the final, with Jane Nicholas 6sec back and another Tauranga paddler, schoolgirl Claudia Paterson, 18, breaking through for her first open podium spot in 105.34. Jones has added the C1 class to her arsenal this year and was cruising through that final, too, before the nose of her boat hit a gate late in her run and she incurred a 50sec time penalty.

‘‘It was a bit unfortunate but I’ve been really happy with my C1 times over the weekend,’’ Jones said.

‘‘Things are progressing and I’ve actually improved a lot more than I thought I would.’’

Amid a busy weekend, Jones also paired with rising men’s paddler Callum Gilbert to win the mixed C2 final, which gave her a glimpse of how her season is going to look when she leaves for the ICF world cup series in Europe later this month.

Gilbert, meanwhile, came out on top in the showdown between the three men representing New Zealand in Europe this year, edging Alexandra’s Finn Butcher and Olympian Mike Dawson in the K1 final.

The 20-year-old was 1.65sec clear of Butcher, despite picking up a 2sec touch, with Dawson third in 78.59sec.

It’s his second national K1 title, although Dawson was preparing for the Olympics and didn’t race when he won his first last year.