Mike Dawson is through to the semi-finals in the men's kayak slalom at the London Olympics with an impressive run overnight.

The Tauranga paddler, who has been preparing in Europe since April, finished in eighth place in the heats, with the top 15 progressing to the next round on Thursday morning (New Zealand time).

Tauranga Olympian Mike Dawson is through to the semi-finals. Photo: NZ Olympic Team Facebook.

The top 10 qualify for the final with the medals also decided on Thursday morning.

Mike showed consistency in his two runs, scoring 90.90 and 88.58 respectively, which were good enough to net eighth and sixth place in each run.

He believed the strong whitewater conditions played to his advantage given his experience in extreme kayaking.

'It was big and flowing. I just used the water and didn't fight it too much. I didn't use a lot of energy.”

Elsewhere, the Black Sticks, featuring Tauranga's Gemma Flynn, upset their highly fancied Australian opponents for the first time at an Olympic Games thanks to a Cathryn Finlayson goal in the early stages.

A stout defensive effort ensured there was no change to the score from there, with the women's chances of reaching the knockout stages enhanced despite tough matches against Argentina and Germany to follow in the next week.

More joy, too, for the New Zealand men's football team, featuring Tommy Smith, which drew one all with Egypt after an early Chris Wood goal was cancelled just before the half time interval by Mohamed Salah.

The New Zealand side now must beat Brazil in their final fixture to have a chance at reaching the quarter-final stage.