The two New Zealanders turned on brilliant displays of kayak cross racing in their heats today.
Finn Butcher was commanding in his men’s heat, and paddled imperiously into tomorrow’s quarter-finals.
Luuka Jones was no less impressive in her women’s heat, outpacing the field to also ease into the quarter-finals.
Butcher, 29, earned the starting position of his choice because of the speed of his run in round one and made the most of this advantage when he was quickly off the ramp and smashing his way through the water, leaving the other three paddlers in his heat some distance behind.
He executed a beautiful roll and negotiated the gates superbly, but what stood out was his strength.
There’s still a way to go in the event, but he has certainly marked himself as a paddler to watch.
“It was good to get that one out of the way,” he said. “I got away to another fast start. It was good to get to the front and avoid all the carnage behind me. I glanced back a couple of times and it looked like it was a bit messy.”
Butcher had time to finish and, in kayak cross terms, have a cup of coffee while he waited for the rest of the field to join him.
Jones was in the green bib, so had second choice of lane. But she shrugged off that minor inconvenience and soon jostled her way into the lead.
From there she executed every manoeuvre as she’d have liked and was able to cruise to the finish line with the other three paddlers some distance behind.
“You can’t take anything for granted here. I had to go out and execute a good race,” she said.
Although Jones won an Olympic medal in the canoe slalom K1 in 2016, she’s appeared extremely focused on the kayak cross in Paris and has a real sense of purpose about her.
Her last words in the brief media conference were “I’m all in”, and that’s definitely how it seems.