Rob Oliver will be checking and re-checking the Paris weather forecast ahead of his KL3 semifinal.

The para canoeist finished second in his heat by just 0.01 seconds on the opening day of competition, narrowly missing out on automatic qualification to the final behind Spain's Juan Valle Gallardo.

But with a time of 42.35 in a headwind, Oliver admitted that he was more than confident that he can drop below 40 seconds in the right conditions and put himself in contention for victory in the final.

“I followed all my processes, did exactly what I wanted to do and delivered the race I wanted to," said Oliver, who is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games. 

"The time is a bit slow, not due to a lack of effort, just a little bit of headwind.

"We’ve been out in Hungary in a training camp and all the times have been sub 40 so hopefully the conditions will favour me from now on.

"If I run that race and there is not a headwind, I would be confident I could win the whole lot. That’s how happy I am. I wouldn’t change a thing from that, it went perfect.”

Just one hundredth of a second separated Oliver and Valle Gallardo in a nail-biting photo finish at Vaires-sur-Marne Stadium.

Oliver lunged over the line but to no avail as the qualification spot was pinched at the final moment by the Spanish athlete.

Speaking on his famous lunge over the line technique, a technique which brought him gold in the event by 0.1 seconds in Tokyo, Oliver noted that it can't all go his way. As long as there's a medal on the other side.

“I like to lunge but I don’t know what happened there," he said.

"I would have to see the video back. I don’t know what I did, maybe I messed it up I don’t know.

"It’s one of those things that is programmed in my brain to lunge and sometimes you come off better and sometimes you don’t.

"Tokyo it worked, and it won it for me by 0.1 so it’s all good.

"There's no pressure, I just need to deliver what I can and hopefully come away with a medal at the end of it.”

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