Utanga ends Cooks’ Games tonight

Cook Islands canoeist Josh Utanga will have more than a quick time on his mind when he races in the first-ever men’s K1 200 metres tonight (CIT).

The pride of a nation will be firmly in his sights as he looks to give the Cook Islands one final chance of making it past the heats of an event at the London showcase.

The Australia-based Olympian posted a sluggish time of 4:32.064 to finish dead-last of the 22 competitors in his first event, the K1 1000 metres.

The split time between him and eventual heat winner, Canadian Adam van Koeverden, was already four seconds after the first 250 metres.

While it was not his preferred race – tonight’s race is his specialty – his time certainly raised more than a few eyebrows.

It remains unseen as to whether Utanga was saving himself for the shorter, sharper event but he has had four days to contemplate how he will go about his specialist event on the Eton Dorney course.

He will get underway in the third heat of the event, which starts at 10.30pm tonight (Thursday, CIT).