Pennie crashes out of K1 slalom

Great Britain's Fiona Pennie was left rueing a disastrous opening run as she failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the women's K1 kayak slalom.

Pennie missed a gate on her opening run, incurring a penalty of 50 seconds, as well as getting another two-second penalty for touching a gate.

And although her second run was quicker, Pennie came 17th - with only the top 15 progressing from the heats.

"After training for four years, it's pretty heart-breaking," she said.

"It's been a great experience, but I wish I could have experienced more in the semi-final.

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"The 50-second penalty was a killer. It was a unanimous decision by all three judges.

"On the first run all our coaches thought it was in, and in our video it looked it, but I guess that's the way sport goes."

Pennie clocked runs of 160.06 and 99.00 seconds at the Shunyi slalom course in Beijing for a total of 259.06.

She was 72.87 seconds behind Elena Kaliska of Slovakia, who topped the heat standings in a time of 186.19 after two faultless runs.

China's Li Jingjing was second with Stepanka Hilgertova of the Czech Republic third.

The K1 semi-final takes place on Thursday.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
BOA profile: Fiona Pennie
Beijing 2008 - canoeing and kayaking
Slalom canoeing from the BOA
Sprint canoeing from the BOA
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