Tauranga's Luuka Jones capped a magnificent start to the Kiwi canoe slalom team's Olympic campaign in London overnight, progressing to the semi-finals later in the week.

The 25-year-old needed to sooth a few nerves in front of 12,000 spectators though, after a potentially disastrous second run on the big Lee Valley rapids.

Tauranga paddler Lukka Jones is through to the Olympic semi-finals.

A day after fellow paddler Mike Dawson cruised through in 10th spot, Jones squeaked into the top-15 in 15th spot, just 1.6secs ahead of Brazil's Ana Satila, with a time of 109.23secs.

She missed three gates in her second run but fortunately her raw speed in her first run - despite three 2second penalties - was good enough to see her progress.

"I was a bit nervous and a bit hesitant and sometime when you are just off line the water can push you up into the pole," says Jones.

"It got a bit stressful near the end but I've made it through to the semi-finals, which I'm stoked about. The pleasing thing was my speed - without the touches in my first run, I would've been in the top ten so I just need to be cleaner."

Tauranga's Ella Nicholas narrowly missed out, finishing in 18th in her first Olympics representing the Cook Islands.

Spain's Maialen Chourraut was the top qualifier, finishing her first run in 98.75seconds, with Great Britain's Lizzie Neave in second and Italy's Maria Clara Giai Pron third.

Dawson, meanwhile, spent the day watching his compatriots compete, safe in the knowledge he was through to the men's semi-final on Wednesday night (NZ time).

The biggest talking point about his run was having his mum Kay, one of the ICF judges on the course, call him for a penalty touch on gate five.

In typical fashion, she was laughing off the attention.

"I was tempted to get my coach and manager [Dawson's father Les] to put in a protest about that particular judge but that would've had all sorts of ramifications after the Olympics and besides, I like Mum's cooking too much!" he said, tongue firmly in cheek. "Fortunately it was definitely a genuine touch and of course, she called it right, as I'd expect her to. It definitely dispels any hint of bias and I wouldn't have it any other way, though I'll be trying my hardest to keep Mum unoccupied in my semi-final."