Liam Jegou has progressed to the semi-finals of the C1 slalom after a composed second run at the Sea Forest Waterway.
Brittany-born Jegou's Olympic survival depended on a good time after coming home last following a missed gate in his first attempt at the course.
And he delivered, coming home in a time of 104.40, which included a two-second penalty.
With the top 15 advancing out of a field of 18, a conservative approach was always likely to deliver qualification for the athletes.
Following a good start to his first run however Jegou misjudged his approach to the 19th gate and missed it, resulting in a 50-second time penalty.
But his second attempt was much cleaner as he came home ninth - that was good enough for 11th overall.
Liam Jegou made life difficult for himself, but with more than five years of work on the line, he qualified with his second run#olympics #tokyo2020 #rtesport
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 25, 2021
📺 Watch live - https://t.co/YnjU8JEg9Q…
📱 Report - https://t.co/hpetq3wRpb pic.twitter.com/QMHjrKVWHz
"I was hoping for a better day - an easier start to the Games," he told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
"It couldn't have started any worse. A 50 second [penalty] on the first run. I was putting down a good run but I just completely lost my edge on one of the moves at the bottom.
"That second run in 'quals' is the worst in any competition and I guarantee at the Games it has that [extra] edge. You've essentially got five years of work - it's more than five years - come down to one run.
"I was just trying to keep a neutral mindset, focusing on my breathing and letting my body do the paddling. I know how to paddle - I've been doing this for a long time. I know how to paddle under pressure and it was just about being able to calm myself and pull."
Reflecting on his second run, the one which saw him secure a place in Monday's semi-finals, Jegou said: "It wasn't a good run by any means.
"It was slow [and] I felt pretty heavy. I guess I was really trying to avoid mistakes and that doesn't work at this level. You need to be attacking and not defending. Maybe on this run I was just trying to get the moves instead of going fast on the moves.
"My mind was blank on the run; it was just one gate at a time. The result, and everything else, was secondary.
"A bad heat run never defines the rest of the competition so I'm glad I got this one out of the way - I don't think it could get any harder than it was in that second run. I'm going to enjoy the rest of the competition and we'll see tomorrow."
