Dawson 10th in slalom final

Mike Dawson finished 10th in the K1 Canoe Slalom final today, holding his own against some of the best in the sport.

The 29-year-old Tauranga man completed the course in a time of 93.07s. The gold medal went to Briton Joseph Clarke in 8.53s from Slovenian Peter Kauzer.

Dawson paddled superbly in the semi-final, where his time was 91.47s, good enough for fifth place of the 10 progressing to the final.

If he’d replicated that effort he would have ended up in sixth position, but his final effort didn’t quite pan out.

“I had a really good semi and me and Campbell [Walsh, his coach] had a plan for the final,” Dawson said. “I was very happy with the first two-thirds; it felt really good.”

However, his hands slipped from his paddle at about gate 16 and he lost a little time over the final few gates.

Dawson is immensely experienced as an international paddler. He first represented New Zealand when he was 15.

As he said, he “gave it a crack” today and showed that he belongs right in the top flight of slalom kayakers. He is the first New Zealander to make an Olympic slalom final.