Jones pipped in canoe final

Jess Fox just held off a rampaging Luuka Jones at the Oceania canoe slalom championships in a stirring battle of the 2016 Olympic medallists in Auckland yesterday.

Australian Fox, who has more world titles than any other paddler, beat New Zealand’s Jones by 0.49sec in the women’s K1 final.

In a classic trans-Tasman battle it was a reversal of their Rio result four years ago when Jones won silver and Fox the bronze. Jones is eyeing her fourth Olympics later this year.

Fox only qualified thirdfastest, behind Jones and France’s Camille Prigent. But the 25-yearold tore more than 6sec off her qualifying time in the final, posting a faultless 102.14sec.

Jones, last off, pushed all the way and was on track for an impressive upset but mistimed a stroke on the bottom drop and that was all it took to relegate her to second, more than 4sec clear of third-placed Prigent.

‘‘I watched Jess’s run from the top and knew it was 2sec faster than my semi time – I quite like the feeling of having to step up and put something good down,’’ Jones said.

For her part, Fox relished the chance to cross the Tasman and compete against the flying Kiwi, with the pair set to do battle again in Monday’s C1 final.

‘‘The course is really technical and there are a lot of move throughout the whole course so you got to really be positioning well and then attack it when you can and with the wind on top of that, it quite a challenge,’’ Fox said. Meanwhile the Australian C1 men heaped further misery on the hosts as the Olympic quota spot was decided.

Tauranga teenager Jack Egan held New Zealand’s slim C1 hopes in his hands as the only Kiwi to qualify for yesterday’s final.

Having only just turned 18 in November, Egan was the sixthfastest after the semifinals and needed to beat six Australian paddlers in the final to claim the Oceania continental spot for Tokyo.

After a promising start, Egan struck disaster just after the 16th gate on a blustery Vector Wero Whitewater Park course, when his hand slipped off the paddle and he rolled into a pocket. He missed gate 17 and picked up a flurry of touches to finish 10th.

‘‘I was having a good run and the wind was mostly in my favour but I just got caught out trying to switch from right to left and it was quite costly,’’ Egan said.

Tasmanian Daniel Watkins picked up the Oceania title with a clean 101.57sec run, finishing just 1.77sec ahead of Zach Lokken (United States).

As well as today’s C1 women’s semifinals and final, the men’s K1 crown will be decided, with Olympic selection spots also up for grabs for both Australian and New Zealand men.