Another Tasmanian will have Tokyo in his sights when he competes this weekend.
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Hobart's Daniel Watkins will contest the Sydney International Whitewater Festival at Penrith with Olympic qualification on the line.
More than 300 of the world's greatest paddlers from 23 countries, including several Olympic and world championship medallists, will compete with the open canoe slalom doubling as the final Australian Olympic and national team selection event.
Watkins, 24, of Derwent Canoe Club, and Rio Olympian Lucien Delfour, of NSW, are in the lead after winning the C1 and K1 at the Oceania Championships respectively at the start of February.
But with another two races to count for selection this weekend, the contest is wide open.
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Exactly five months out from the start of the 2020 Olympic Games, Jessica Fox, a dual Olympic medallist and greatest individual slalom paddler of all time, will be spearheading Australia's highly successful team on her home course which hosted the 2000 Olympic event.
While Fox has already secured her ticket to Tokyo, the men's C1 and K1 Olympic spots are yet to be decided. With only one country spot available per event, they will be hotly contested in Penrith.
National selection trials will confirm who will be nominated to the Australian Olympic Committee for selection and will also decide canoe slalom teams for the world cup, under-23 and junior teams, and Olympic reserves. Teams are expected to be announced at the end of February.
The canoe slalom competition will start with heats on Friday. Semi-finals and finals in the men's C1 and women's K1 are scheduled for Saturday, before Sunday will see the women's C1, mixed C2 and men's K1 semi-finals and finals.
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