From half drowned to silver medallist

6:11 pm on 29 January 2018

In the space of a year, New Zealand canoe slalom star Luuka Jones has gone from a half-drowned, last-placed wreck to a silver medalist.

Just 15 months after adding the C1 discipline to her arsenal, she's now within touching distance of the sport's undisputed queen, Jess Fox, having finished second to the Australian at the Oceania championships at the Vector Wero Whitewater Park in Auckland.

Jones was just 2.71secs behind Fox, a far cry from the 2017 final at the same venue when Fox won by 13 secongs and Jones rolled after missing a gate and finished more than six minutes off the pace once all her time penalties were added up.

Luuka Jones on her way to second in the women's C1 final at the Oceania canoe slalom championships. Photo: Supplied

"Last year, I nearly drowned in the C1 and was basically just trying to make it to the bottom upright!" Jones lamented.

"This year, to come second and to be right in the mix was really good - any race where I'm getting closer to Jess is a good race and I've still got a bit of time until the Tokyo Olympics to keep improving in C1 and hopefully not drop off too much in K1."

Her C1 improvement saw her make a series of world cup finals last year, although she saved her best result for an historic fourth-placing in the K1 at the world championships in France.

Fox picked up her fifth world title in the same race - she now has three C1 world titles and two K1 crowns - and has been a keen follower of her Kiwi rival's progress.

"Luuka's really pushing it in C1 and she paddles a C1 a lot like a K1, in that she attacks it a lot more," Fox said. "I'm a bit more open and try for wider lines to keep my boat speed, whereas she'll come right in and get right up close to the gate. She's an exciting paddler to watch and she had some great results in the world cups last year."