Maley Superb on Olympic Debut – Through to Semis

Aussie paddler Kynan Maley has shaken his Olympic nerves to produce a fine day of qualification runs in the men’s C1 slalom and progress to the semi-final stage of the London Olympics.

Maley was the third athlete to take to the white water and nailed his first run in a total time of 94.07 seconds, placing him in sixth position.

“Sixth was a solid run,” the WA-born paddler said. “I wasn’t trying to go out there and win it. Some of the top guys had good runs but half of the field had big mistakes. I dropped a bit of time to make sure that with the wind I didn’t touch any of the poles.”

Sitting in a comfortable position after this first run with the top 12 overall athletes progressing, Maley knew he had room for improvement in the second run to ensure his place in the semi-final.

The 30 year-old paddler executed a fast second run, clocking 24.40 at the first split – faster than any time recorded in the first run. His speed throughout the course was notably faster than in the first run however a couple of errors cost him two penalties – and four seconds.

“I think my second run left a lot to be desired, compared to the intensity I put in,” Maley said of his 96.68 run.

“I had a few mistakes and a couple of touches. I think mentally I was going pretty well through the run to sustain the effort, but just didn’t quite nail some of the lines and had a few mistakes through the middle.

“The course was pretty tricky, there was a bit of wind in the first run so I think I had a good game plan. I was paddling in the middle of the gates just paddling really safe I just really wanted to make sure I locked in a semi-final.”

And lock it in he did – sneaking in as the 12th and final qualifier.

“There are so many emotions wrapped up in this for me,” Maley said. “I’ve been trying to make so many changes to myself – mentally, physically and with my technique to make sure that when I turned up here I could make the most of the opportunity.”

In Tuesday’s semi-final where competitors start with a fresh scoreboard, Maley will face some tough competition as he takes on the likes of Beijing gold medallist Michal Martikan of Slovakia, home-crowd favourite and world number one ranked David Florence and multiple world champion and Olympic champion Tony Estanguet of France. Of the 12-man semi, eight will progress to the final.

Things unfortunately did not go to plan for Maley’s teammate Warwick Draper who contested the K1.

A veteran of three Olympic Games, Draper did not have the result he had been working so hard for, narrowly missing a berth in the 15-man semi-final.

Finishing in 16th place after the first run in an adjusted time of 95.20, Draper needed to have a fast and clean second shot at the course but he just wasn’t able to execute this. Notching up a penalty on gate 16, Draper finished with a score of 95.08, leaving him in 18th position.

“Things didn’t go my way today,” a clearly deflated and disappointed Draper said.

“I was perhaps a little bit too conservative on the first run plus I made mistakes, and then I just gave it everything on the second run and fought really hard but unfortunately got off line too many times, took a penalty and it just wasn’t enough today.”

With Draper’s Games now at a close, he will now turn his attention to supporting his teammates.

“Absolutely, I’ll be coming out and supporting those guys,” he said. And of another Games?

“I won’t be thinking about that for the moment,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll definitely be taking a break for now.”

Canoe/kayak slalom action continues tomorrow with the men’s C2 and women’s K1.