Fox is the Olympic kayak bronze and canoe gold medallist but had required a second heat to progress through the canoe heats yesterday.

However, her time of 87.32sec at the Lee Valley White Water Centre was beaten only by defending Olympic and world champion Funk's 86.79 on the first run of the kayak heats.

That ensured both athletes were comfortably among the 20 who automatically progressed to Saturday's (September 23) semi-finals.

Germany's Elena Lilik, third at last year's World Championships in Augsburg, was sixth in 88.34, and Olympic silver medallist Maialen Chourraut progressed with a time of 90.59 in 16th.

However, there was a surprise exit for Slovenia's 2019 world champion Eva Terčelj, for whom a two-second penalty cost her progress on the first run with a total time of 92.65 to place 25th, and again on the second run in which she clocked 92.19 to rank 11th.

Czech Republic's Antonie Galušková had taken the 10th and final semi-final place through the second run in 91.38.

Britain's Mallory Franklin finished 31st in the first run with two two-second penalties, but recovered to place seventh in the second with a clean 90.90.

In the men's kayak heats, Czech Republic's Jakub Krejčí was quickest on the first run with a time of 79.11, followed closely by his compatriot and Olympic champion Jiří Prskavec in 79.12.

Another Czech athlete in defending champion Vít Přindiš progressed in 81.88 in 16th, but with only one Paris 2024 quota place available per nation the semi-finals and final promise to be hotly contested between the trio.

Olympic silver medallist Jakub Grigar of Slovakia placed eighth in 80.36, and last year's runner-up Giovanni De Gennaro of Italy seventh in 79.96.

Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Hannes Aigner of Germany was among the 30 who reached the semi-finals in the first run with a 28th-ranked 84.11, and France's Boris Neveu placed 24th in 81.44.

Austria's Felix Oschmautz was among the high-profile athletes eliminated, placing 87th in 139.31 in the first run after collecting 52sec in penalties, and missing out on the second run with a 13th-placed 83.64 including a 2sec penalty.

Fifteen Paris 2024 quota places are available in each of the kayak events.

The ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships is set to continue at the London 2012 Olympics venue tomorrow with the canoe semi-finals.

With 12 Olympic quota places available in canoe and only 10 spots in the World Championships final, the semi-finals are set to contribute towards determining Paris 2024 qualification.