PARIS - China's Xu Shixiao and Sun Mengya, who took the women's canoe double 500m title at the Tokyo Olympics, cruised into the event's semifinal at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium here on Tuesday.

Xu/Sun clocked one minute, 54.45 seconds to rank first in heat one, while Canadian canoeists Sloan Mackenzie and Katie Vincent topped another heat in one minute, 54.16 seconds to qualify for the semifinals.

"It is obvious that everyone wants gold. I think we are well-prepared. We will try our best to show how well we have trained, compete with no regrets, and enjoy the Games," said 32-year-old Xu, who has won three world championships with her partner Sun, 23, since 2019.

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Mackenzie noted: "Paddling as well as we can and leaving everything out on the course. We are just going to try and execute our races the best that we can, showing everyone what we have."

In the men's canoe double 500m, China's Liu Hao and Ji Bowen finished in an Olympic best of 1:37.40 to sail into the semifinals.

Chinese kayakists Yu Shimeng and Chen Yule also advanced into the women's kayak double 500m, while China's team of Li Dongyin, Yin Mengdie, Wang Nan and Sun Yuewen booked a berth in the women's kayak four 500m final.

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The canoe sprint events will be held from Tuesday to Saturday, with 10 gold medals on offer.