Ireland's Noel Hendrick has missed out on a place in the final of the K1 canoe slalom, after a 15th place finish in this afternoon's semi-final at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
The 26-year-old produced a time of 102.46 seconds in his semi-final run, which left him just over six seconds, and three places back, from a place in this afternoon’s final.
Needing to finish inside the top 12 to qualify for the final, Hendrick was second in the running order after finishing 19th in Tuesday’s heats.
He got off to an impressive start with an opening split of 21.63 seconds, but ran into trouble after the sixth gate when his kayak flipped over momentarily.
"It was a rough run, and I'm not very happy with it, I’m not very proud of it," a disappointed Hendrick told RTÉ Sport.
The Donadea native picked up two time penalties amounting to four seconds in total during his run, but he was particularly frustrated after his kayak flipped over at the sixth gate. He quickly resumed his run, but admitted afterwards it was a crucial error.
"I just went out very attacking, I started well and did a good first-up, and then the following sequence afterwards, right in the top pool I went to jump against the stopper, leaned on the edge and then I just rolled and followed it in.
"After that it was very hard to pull it back. When you make a big mistake like that it kind of feels like your arms are gone, and I just felt like my arms were empty after that. I was really struggling to get it back on track.
"I delivered the rest of the run, but I knew towards the end I had done enough damage.
"I was trying my best to get it back on track afterwards, fighting for some tight lines, following the plan as if nothing had happened, but it was physically very difficult. When you make a mistake like that, the adrenaline and everything, you just feel shattered afterwards. It was very difficult to finish out the run," he added.
It;s not the end of Hendrick's journey at Paris 2024, with the Kildare man set to compete in Friday's kayak cross time trial.
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