Max Brown and Kurtis Imrie , NZ Mens K2 Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Olympic spots are up for grabs for a number of New Zealand crews at the Oceania Canoe Sprint Championships starting in Penrith near Sydney on Friday.
Four women's spots were confirmed for Paris at the World Championships in Germany in August.
Friday's heats are the vital qualification races.
In the mens K2 500m, 2020 Olympic pair Max Brown and Kurtis Imrie will be racing.
With Australia already having qualified for this event, NZ must beat the remaining Oceania nations (Samoa, Cook Islands, Tahiti) to secure the qualification.
James Munro and Kasey Ngataki will be lining up the mens C2 500m event, where they must beat Samoa and Australia to earn the two Olympic quotas.
Aimee Fisher and Danielle McKenzie are hoping to qualify an Olympic womens K2 500 boat for NZ in their heat.
Fisher and McKenzie, who teamed up less than a year ago, need to win their race against the other Oceania nations. They are expecting a tough challenge from the Australian crew.
Aimee Fisher Photo: Photosport
Quaid Thompson will be racing in the Mens K1 1000m Olympic qualification race on Saturday and Kasey Ngataki is lining up in the mens C1 1000m.
The qualifying process is for boats and not athletes.
The announcement of the athletes selected for the 2024 NZ Olympic team will be made in the next couple of months.
Aotearoa currently has 4 Olympic quota spots secured for the Paris 2024 Olympic games, courtesy of the womens K4 results at the 2023 ICF World Championships.
Scott Martlew has also secured his Paralympic spot and will be racing this weekend to get some vital race practice in both the Paracanoe K1 200m and V1 200m.
Corbin Hart and Peter Cowan will have a chance to qualify for the Paralympics at the 2024 Paracanoe World Championships in May.