Finn Butcher caught the attention of some of the big names in canoe slalom with a sizzling first run in the K1 event today.
Butcher, 29, swept down the course in impressive fashion and was placed 4th in the field of 24 after the first run, with a time of 86.35s. He was one of only seven paddlers not to incur a penalty on the first run.
With the top 20 paddlers progressing to tomorrow’s semi-finals, Butcher’s run assured him he’d be among them.
In his second run, he hit a gate and incurred a 50-second penalty, ending with 142.08. Not that it mattered. After the two runs, Butcher was placed seventh going into the semi-finals.
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 the first run felt awesome. “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.