CANOE SLALOM: Australia’s Ian Borrows has finished an agonising 0.09 of a second outside qualifying for the 10-man final in the C1 event at the Deodoro Whitewater Stadium.

The sixth man to hit the water in the 14-man semi-final, Borrows had to watch on as paddler after paddler bettered his time of 101.32 seconds.

Although disappointed, the popular Sydneysider was philosophical after his semi-final.

“To be honest, I thought I paddled well. Maybe there were a couple of small mistakes that cost me two or three seconds,” he said.

“I had two clear runs, which is a bit unlike me, so it was pretty good.”

The quality of the men’s semi-final was incredible, with only three time penalties in the entire 14-strong field.

Borrows enjoyed his Olympic experience, although having to wait for others to finish was a nerve-wracking experience.

“Leaving it for the others to somehow get you in with a mistake is never great,” he said.

“They are the best in the world for a reason – they keep pulling out clear runs.”

That being said, Borrows more than held his own against the world’s best and can look back on his first Olympic Games with a great deal of satisfaction.

“It was a great buzz to be out there against the best in the world. It was awesome,” Borrows said.

Australia’s final competitor in the Canoe Slalom is Jessica Fox, who is the second fastest qualifier for Thursday’s semi-final of the KI.

Damian Kelly

olympics.com.au