Lucien Delfour's love affair with the Penrith whitewater stadium has continued with the Australian paddler clocking the third fastest time in the men's kayak heats at the ICF canoe slalom world championships.
The two-time Olympian produced a blemish-free run on Wednesday to finish 1.11 seconds behind Czech Jakub Krejci and Swiss Martin Dougoud.
Defending world champion Great Britain's Joseph Clarke missed the top 30 cut-off for the semi-finals, finished 33rd after a two-second penalty for clipping gate seven.
It continues a stellar year for 36-year-old Delfour, who won K1 bronze in two World Cup events in Europe.
Delfour was born in Papeete in French Polynesia but was first drawn to the Sydney Olympics legacy course when he visited as part of the French team for the 2007 Youth Olympics.
Three years later he moved to Australia permanently saying while he didn't move specifically for the course, it was "one of the reasons" and remained a favourite.
"It's a good start, so one step at a time," Delfour said.
"It's real cut-throat because it's top 30 so you don't have to put down the run of your life, but it's got to be really solid and clean.
"Going fast means you do have to use up a bit of juice, keep the pace up and not be too loose on the gates, which is hard today because of the wind, so making it into the semi was not an easy thing."
Delfour finished eighth in Tokyo but missed selection for Paris with Tim Anderson earning the spot.
Melbourne product Anderson finished the first round in 11th spot while Ben Pope was 14th, capping a good day for Australia's men.
In the women's K1, with reigning world and Olympic champion Jessica Fox watching on as she recovers from kidney surgery, younger sister Noemie led the local charge with the sixth fastest time.
Germany's Ricarda Funk, who relegated the elder Fox to bronze in the K1 at the Tokyo Olympics, was fastest on course, some 2.38 seconds ahead of Noemie.
Kate Eckhardt also advanced in front of her home crowd with the 13th best time.
Olympic kayak cross gold medallist Fox said she was happy with her performance after she was hit by nerves at the start.
"It's a huge confidence boost to know that even when I'm feeling really off, shaky, nervous and feeling a bit on edge out there that I can still produce some really fast times," the 28-year-old said.
"I gave myself a bit of a Ted Lasso motivational speech at the start ... you don't want to let nerves take control of the situation and take this incredible opportunity away from you.
"That's what I reminded myself, the sun is shining, people are here to see me and this is my course, and I'm strong on it."
In the afternoon kayak teams event, Fox, Eckhardt and Sarah Crosbee finished fifth, unable to defend the title won in London in 2023 when Jessica Fox was the spearhead.
The Czech team took gold ahead of Germany and Slovenia.
The Australian men also placed fifth with France, Japan and Great Britain on the podium.
