Canoe Slalom

Cutline: Men’s K1

Australia’s Lucien Delfour has qualified fastest for the final of the men’s kayak slalom Australian Open final after a powerful run on Sunday morning.

As the temperature hit 32 degrees Celcius, and with a background cacophony of cicadas at the beautiful Penrith Whitewater Stadium, Delfour set a perfect time of 101.62 seconds to head Germany’s Sebastian Schubert by 0.61 seconds, with Slovakia’s Peter Kauzer in third place.

Australia will have three competitors in the final, after both William Forsythe and Warwick Draper also qualified.

Olympic silver medallist Fabien Lefevre of France could only managed 18th place in 40-man semi final field and failed to qualify.

World champion Daniele Molmenti of Italy qualified in 9th position, setting a blistering time of 100.88 but incurring four penalty seconds on his run.

The final will be contested at 11.15am (AEDT)