Team GB's Lizzie Neave raised the prospect of a medal in the canoe slalom after she came second in her heat.
Faced with a world-class field, including last year's European champion Jana Dukatova and two-time Olympic gold medallist Stepanka Hilgertova, she raced through her second run in a time of 98.92 seconds.
That left her only 0.17 seconds off first place set by Spain's Maialen Chourraut and raised the prospect of a British medal when she returns for the semi-finals and final on Thursday.
Neave's form to date has not made her the obvious candidate for a medal. She finished 10th in the European championships in the K1 earlier this year and 16th at the world cup meeting in Cardiff.
But the 25-year-old, from Stone in Staffordshire, has been able to practice on the £35 million purpose built course for the last 18 months.
Neave had all but qualified after finishing fourth in the first run. But instead of easing off in her second run, she went back to her room and watched a replay of her performance to iron out her mistakes.
She said: "I don't think it was unexpected. I knew that if I went out and put a good run down it would be right up there with the top girls.
"It was a good feeling knowing that I could do a better after looking at the video from the first run.
"Certainly there were time losses in my second run. If I go out and improve on that run and iron out any time losses, I would be happy with that.
"I know that if I perform at my best, I can compete for a medal so we will just have to wait and see."