Top Kiwi kayaker Mike Dawson has seen enough of the London Olympic white water slalom course to know that he desperately wants to race there again.

Mike Dawson.

The 24-year-old Tauranga paddler narrowly missed a spot in the finals of an invitational event at the Lee valley venue at the weekend, though his raw times were good enough to compete with the best in the world.
He now has the final world cup event of the season in Prague in a fortnight before attempting to qualify for the Olympics at next month's world championships in Slovakia.

Mike says his last runs down the Lee Valley course in London had equal amounts of frustration and exhilaration.

"I had a nightmare on my first run, rolling in the middle of the course and picking up a touch at the bottom but my split times were still right up there with the top guys," says Mike.

"I had a bit too much to do in the second run and only ended up missing the cut for the final day by 0.2secs which was a bit gutting but there's still some good stuff to work on.

'The Venue is awesome – the water is big and pushy and pretty hard on the body, but if you're on line the boat can really flow and go fast."
Mike was the only Kiwi to make it into the top-21 of any division at the event and his second run – clocked at 102.08secs including a two second time penalty – was just behind France's Fabien Lefevre, who finished with 101.88 to claim the last of 14 spots in the final.