On the opening day of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup 2 in Duisburg, the rising Kiwi combination of Max Brown and Kurtis Imrie successfully advanced to the K2 1000m semi-finals with a solid paddle.

Last week, in the opening ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Poznan, the pair excelled on their senior international debut to place eighth in the A Final of their speciality event.

In good conditions on the Wedau Regatta Course, Brown (Whanganui) and Imrie (Mana) made an aggressive start and the duo hit the 500m checkpoint in second spot narrowly behind the Canadian pair of Brian Malfesi and Vincent Jourdenais.

During the second half of the race the Kiwi pairing slipped position but crossed the line sixth to bank an automatic qualification spot for tomorrow's K2 1000m semi-finals at (1.37am) in a time of 3:25.402.

In a tight heat, less than two seconds covered the first six crews with Canada taking top spot in 3:23.411.

Elsewhere, on the opening day of action in Duisburg, the Poverty Bay duo of Alicia Hoskin and Britney Ford (1.47.108) and Briar McLeely (North Shore) and Danielle Watson (Mana) (1:51.877) both advanced to the semi-finals of the K2 500m - each placing sixth in their respective heats.

Later in the semi-finals, Hoskin and Ford narrowly missed out on a spot in the B Final by just one place. The duo registered a time of 1:45.213 to claim seventh - just 0.324 adrift of the Romanian crew in sixth.

McLeely and Watson were also eliminated – the pair taking eighth in their semi-final (1:51.869) behind the high-class Belgian pairing of Hermien Peters and Lize Broekx (1:44.517), who crossed the line first.

All four Kiwi K2 500m paddlers will combine for New Zealand in the heats of the women's K4 500m.

Quaid Thompson was the other Kiwi in action on the opening day in Duisburg. The Poverty Bay paddler opened his quest with a solid K1 1000m heat to place fifth in 3:47.055 and qualify automatically for the semi-finals.

However, the 2018 World U23 K1 1000m fourth placer was to exit the semi-finals later on day one as he wound up 9^th in 3:42.975 behind Portugal's world champion Fernando Pimenta (3:34.374).

Thompson returns to compete in the K1 5000m event on Monday (NZ time).

The young developmental Kiwi squad may not have made any finals today but they will have benefited from the top-class international racing experience.

The action will start on Saturday at 7pm (NZ time) and can be followed on www.canoeicf.com

Below is a list of when the Kiwis will be in action on day two of the event. All times NZ.

Men's K2 1000m – Semi-finals - 1.37am

Max Brown/Kurtis Imrie

Women's K4 500M – Heats - 3.24am

Alicia Hoskin/Briar McLeely/Danielle Watson/Britney Ford

Men's K4 500m – Heats – 3.54am

Ashton Reiser/Ben Duffy/Zach Ferkins/Hamish Legarth