KI KAYAK: Another blissful morning at the Helliniko Complex, and there's a noon showdown in the women's singles kayak slalom. And some Olympic-style justice. Elena Kaliska of Slovakia wins the gold medal, the only reward that was going to compensate for finishing fourth in Sydney.

Even by the immeasurable standards of kayaking the 32-year-old has produced two near-perfect runs. She led the semi-final run by just over a second, but went even better in the final run. Her combined time of 210.03 was almost five seconds ahead of the American Rebecca Giddens, who took silver, and almost nine seconds ahead of third-placed Helen Reeves of Britain.

This was the event where Galway's Eadaoin Ní Challaráin carried the Irish hopes. After edging through the qualifying runs on Tuesday, she needed a top-10 finish to get into the deciding final run. She came 11th.

Though that ended her ultimate intentions of getting amongst the medals, Ní Challaráin was nonetheless satisfied. "It's all been very exciting," she said. "I mean the crowds and the atmosphere has been great, and I can't wait now for the next few days."

Timed at 116.95 for her semi-final run, and without hitting a gate, she was just over three seconds outside the qualification place.

"For the run itself I was very focused, really pushing it, but unfortunately I made quite an error on gate seven, and lost a lot of time, and went upstream. I knew immediately I had to go like the clappers.

"And I'm always happy to get a clean run. I was just unfortunate to give away that time. So to be 11th, so close to the final, is a real disappointment."

After the qualification runs everyone starts with a clean slate. Ní Challaráin had also seen kayaks struggle around her: "I knew the German, Mandy Planert, the world-ranked number two, was right down at the bottom of the field. But they changed around the start a little, and widened the distance between gates downstream. So I think it was a little more technical than yesterday."

Eoin Rheinisch is among the 25 kayaks that start this morning's men's singles heats (8.40 a.m. Irish-time), and after a World Cup victory in Spain earlier this year has both the ability and confidence to make the final.