Olympic champion Nevin Harrison reminded the paddling world of her class with a barnstorming canoe single 200m heat win in the fastest time of the day at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Thursday.

The American has battled indifferent form and struggles off the water since she snatched the first ever women’s Canoe Sprint gold medal when the sport made its debut in Tokyo three years ago.

But she turned out on Thursday looking fast and focused, and booked her place in the semi-finals. She said she shocked herself, given the drama she has been dealing with during this Olympic cycle.

“I was just surprised looking at the times, I honestly didn’t feel like I went that fast, so it feels good to put that time down,” Harrison said.

“The last two years have been really difficult as an athlete, battling injuries and a lot of difficulties within Team USA and my team coaching, it just seemed like every single odd was stacked up against me these last couple of years.

“I overcame a lot. I’ve made it back here in a way I didn’t think I could. Its hard as athletes with injury, and then also not feeling supported within the sport. We’re kind of doing it alone, and that felt like the overwhelming emotion in the past couple of years.”

Harrison said finding a new coach was the key to turning her career around.

Cuba’s Yarisleidis Cirilo Duboys posted the second quickest time, while 22-year-old Canadian Sophia Jensen on her Olympic debut won her heat, and also had a message for those who had doubted her.

“I’ve had a lot of people tell me I can’t do this, it’s unobtainable, so I’m really happy, and it feels good to shove it in their face a little bit,” Jensen said.

“I’ve had a long struggle with people, especially in school. They’ve always told me I can’t focus on more than one thing at a time so I have to pretty much give up on paddling.

“I had a gym teacher give me 11 per cent in class, and tell me my dream was unobtainable, so I’m pretty excited to be here. I had a really tough time through 16 and 17, feeling really low and that no-one really believed in me. And it was hard to believe in myself at the time.

“So I’m really proud of myself for pushing through that. I didn’t realise how hard it was, so I’m really excited to be here.”

Canadian teammate Katie Vincent cemented her standing as one of the pre-event gold medal favourites with a win in her heat.

Vincent, whose campaign for gold in Tokyo was derailed when her C2 partner, Laurence Vincent-Lapointe, was initially banned but then re-instated after returning a positive drug test, said she is ready to make amends.

“I think we were in a really tough place as a team in Tokyo, just off the water we had a lot of stuff going on, so coming into this Olympics we have a lot more positive vibes,” Vincent said.

“The weight of everything, I was pretty young at the time, I think the things I learned out of that experience have made me who I am now and made me a better athlete. Some times we need to go through rough parts to get to the good parts.

“Maybe Tokyo wasn’t what it was meant to be, and we have better things planned ahead of us.”

The women’s C1 200 final will be held on Saturday.