Lucien Delfour: Focussing on the gates, not podium

Following a golden Jess Fox run in the women's C1 on Thursday, Olympian Lucien Delfour will be flying the Australian flag high on the last day of the Tokyo 2020 Canoe Slalom competition at Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre.

After qualifying as the third fastest athlete in the heats, Delfour will be on the start line at 15:51 AEST to go down the whitewater rapids in the men’s kayak semi-final. Watch live on 7plus.

After missing out on the top-ten final in Rio, Delfour will be out for redemption and is aiming to progress through to the final round of racing, where it will be anyone’s game.

The course design will change from the qualifying round to the semi-finals and final with Delfour taking it one step at a time.

“It will be an exciting day, but I try not to think about a medal. The course design for the semis and final is quite tricky, so I have to focus on the gates, not a medal” Delfour said.

“Of course I want to get on the podium, but I think completing the course without any penalties is going to be a challenge in itself,” he said.

Semi-finals start from 15:00 AEST with finals scheduled to start from 17:00 AEST.

See Friday’s race schedule here