The Australian, who won K1W silver at the London 2012 Olympic Games, clocked a time of 1 min 48.11sec to finish 1.12 seconds clear of Spain’s Nuria Vilarrubla and a further 4.00 seconds ahead of Great Britain’s Mallory Franklin.

The top three each incurred two-second penalties on their way down the 23-gate course, but showed they had unrivalled straight line speed to pull away from the rest of the field.

In the C1M, world number six Alexander Slafkovsky of Slovakia stopped the clock in 1:31.82 with no touches to secure top spot. 

The 33-year-old bettered the times of team-mate Marko Mirgorodsky and Czech Republic’s Michal Jane, who finished in 1:32.52 and 1:34.51 respectively, earning him the coveted last run position for the weekend's semi-finals.

Slafkovsky’s compatriot Michal Martikan, a five-time Olympic medallist, also cruised through to the latter stages with ease as he looks to put the disappointment of missing out on Rio 2016 selection behind him.

Britain’s Ryan Westley, the bronze medallist from the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships, registered a time of 1:35.25 to ensure a safe passage through to the latter stages.

France’s Benjamin Renia edged out the double World Cup series champion Sebastian Schubert of Germany by a slim margin to go through in pole position in the K1M.

Renia posted a time of 1:27.05, which was 0.03 seconds faster than Schubert and 0.90 seconds quicker than third-placed Martin Halcin of Slovakia.

Czech trio Vavrinec Hradilek, Ondrej Tunka and Vit Prindis, and Spanish duo Joan Crespo and Samuel Hernanz, also secured top 10 finishes to go through at the first time of asking.

Action in Ivrea is due to continue tomorrow with the semi-final and finals in the C1M, C1W and K1M.