Home favourite Isabel Lowry secured her place in the final to delight the crowd under the hot Halifax sun on day two of the International Canoe Federation Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Nova Scotia, Canada.
The hosts had plenty to celebrate, while Hungary and Brazil produced one of the races of the morning as they battled for the top qualifying spot in the men's junior canoe double 500m.
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Lowry, a three-time gold medallist at last year’s Junior World Championships, continued Canada's strong start on home waters by winning her women's junior canoe single 200m heat in 50.97 to secure an automatic place in the final.
Ukraine's Yelyzaveta Vozniuk also booked her place after recording the fastest qualifying time of 50.35.
There was further joy for Canada as Matthew Brown powered into the men's junior C1 500m final, crossing the line in 2:03.62.
Soon after, Toshka Besharah continued the home nation's success by topping her women's U23 kayak single 200m heat in 42.48 to qualify directly for the final.
The men's junior C2 500m provided one of the tensest races of the day as Hungary's Zsolt Peter and reigning world champion David Barna held off Brazilian rising talents Rafick Santos and Lucas Santos to claim the top automatic qualification spot.
The Hungarian pair finished in 1:51.50, leaving the Brazilians on their tail by +1.04 seconds.
Spain's Alberto Ruiz and Alejandro Perez secured the third automatic spot.
Olympic silver medallist Pierre van der Westhuyzen and partner Maguire Reid also secured automatic qualification in 1:39.12 in the men's U23 kayak double 500m.
The Australian duo edged Serbia by just 0.16 seconds to book their place in the final.
Great Britain topped the men's junior K4 500m semi-final in 1:30.21 to qualify for the final alongside Moldova and Poland.
Hosts Canada suffered heartbreak after missing out on qualification by just 0.02 seconds.
Spain narrowly beat Canada in the women's junior K4 500m, stopping the clock in 1:46.30 to finish just 0.66 seconds ahead of the home crew.
Both teams progressed to the final, with Italy also securing qualification.
China showed their strength with success in the women's junior C2 500m as Yuhan Shao and Yanyang Huang produced the fastest time of 2:14.25.
Poland's Julia Piasecka impressed in the women's junior K1 1000m heats, with Germany's Undine Horakh and Great Britain's Annie Bates also advancing comfortably to the next round.
Hungary continued its impressive run through the heats as Anna Trenycsenyi topped her women's junior C1 200m heat, while Lili Gazdag did the same in the women's junior K1 200m.
Panna Gyore added another automatic qualification spot for Hungary in the women's U23 C1 200m.
Hungary's strong day continued in the men's U23 C2 500m as Milan Meszaros and Iliasz Mitropoulous won their heat to progress directly to the final.
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