ATHENS, Greece, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- The United States men's canoe/kayak team placed all three of its slalom boats into the Olympic semifinals Thursday.
Americans Brett Heyl and Scott Parson advanced to the single kayak (K1) semifinal with top-20 finishes in the heats. Heyl is in fifth place after he put together runs of 95.68 and 96.61 seconds. If not for a two-second gate-touch penalty on his second run, Heyl would be in third place.
"I made a perfect performance in the first run" Heyl said. "Concerning to the semifinal, my priority is a good performance."
Parsons finished his runs in 98.15 and 100.06 for a total of 198.21, good for 14th place and 11.42 seconds behind leader Michael Kurt of Switzerland.
The veteran double canoe (C2) team of Matt Taylor and Joseph Jacobi ended Thursday's heats in sixth place overall, securing a berth in Friday's semifinal.
The semifinals and finals for both events will be held Friday with the top 10 boats in K1 and top six in C2 advancing to the final round.
