Place: 14th out of 17 boats

Advance: No, Top 12 C1 boats advance to Tuesday's Semifinal

Best Time: 97.04 seconds (first run)

Penalty Seconds (included in Best Time): 2 seconds due to one touch on Gate 13

Behind Leader: +6.48 seconds behind Michal Martikan of Slovakia

What: Day 1 of Slalom Racing at the London 2012 Olympic Games

Who: qualifying heats for both Casey Eichfeld (Drums, Pa.) in Men's Canoe Single (C1) and Scott Parsons (Bethesda, Md.) in Men's Kayak (K1)

When: Sunday, July 29 beginning 1:30pm GMT (8:30 am ET)

Where: Lee Valley White Water Centre in Waltham Cross, just north of London

Two-time Olympian Casey Eichfeld (Drums, Pa.) was unable to advance past Sunday's heats, finishing 14th with a first run time of 97.04 on Day 1 of slalom racing at the London 2012 Games. The time includes one very close two-second touch penalty on Gate 13. His first run time was 10th best in the heat. Without the penalty, his time would have been good for 5th in the heat and 10th overall.

(see below for QUOTES)

Eichfeld's was unable to improve upon his time in the second run. He finished his second run in 102.02, including four seconds worth of penalties. He had some trouble with the first upstream gate and four other paddlers passed him up with improved second run times.

The fastest of the two runs for each athlete counts and the top 12 Men's C1 boats advanced to Tuesday's Semifinal.

In Men's K1, three-time Olympian Scott Parsons (Bethesda, Md.) placed 16th, just outside of the Top 15 necessary to advance. Check www.usack.org for a full Day 1 recap.

Women's K1 Caroline Queen (Darnestown, Md.) and the Men's Double Canoe tandem of Eric Hurd (Woodstock, Ga.) and Jeff Larimer (Marietta, Ga.) begin racing Monday afternoon.

QUOTES:

Eichfeld on his first run:

"For the most part, it went right. The speed just wasn't really there, so I kept pulling and trying to get there as fast as I can to the finish. It wasn't my best work. ... The second run, I had a really good start, the first three gates. But I came into the first [upstream] left [gate] and dropped a lot of edge and so I started to pick it up a little bit. The lines just weren't there."

Eichfeld on his performance overall:

"I don't think that it was my best paddling, but I went out there with a plan in mind and raced my hardest. It wasn't exactly what I wanted ... but I don't have any regrets. I went out there and paddled as hard as I could."

USA Canoe/Kayak National Teams Director William Irving on Eichfeld's first run:

"He definitely was going through the middle of the gates. He was very clean, very fast and just got into one gate and that was enough to barely keep him out of the semis for tomorrow. He tried to do everything he could to be as close to the gate as possible, to get as fast to the gate as possible. But the call was that he got into the gate."

Irving on Eichfeld's growth:

"This is really Casey's first Olympic Games as an individual. Before, he had another athlete in the boat with him. So this is almost like his first experience. He's certainly getting better and better as time progresses. We're seeing dramatic increases in his overall results. The kid is fast. On his first run, there was at least four to six seconds of time that he could have made up by cutting the lines tighter and those types of the things. So there's a whole lot of room for improvement, which is really what you want to see. You don't want to see an athlete having a perfect run and them being back in tenth. So for Casey's there's a lot of room for improvement, even though he's already at a really high level now."

...

Three-time Olympian Scott Parsons (Bethesda, Md.) and two-time Olympian Casey Eichfeld (Drums, Pa.) kick things off Sunday afternoon for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Canoe/Kayak Team.

Eichfeld, a 2008 Olympian in Men's Double Canoe (C2) takes to the water for the first of two Men's C1 qualifying heats at 1:30 pm GMT. The fastest of the two runs for each athlete will count and the top 12 Men's C1 boats advance to Tuesday's Semifinal. Seventeen boats are competing.

"Looking towards tomorrow, I'm excited and I'm ready," Eichfeld said. "I've been waiting for this for four years and after a long, but well worthwhile team selection process, I have managed to return back to the Olympic Games. I can't wait to be racing again."

Eichfeld, 22, finished 11th in C2 at the 2008 Games and booked his ticket to London with a 6th place finish at the 2012 World Cup No. 1 in Cardiff, Wales. He most recently finished 17th at the Under-23 World Championships in Wausau, Wis., July 11-15. This time, he'll be alone at the startgate, rather than sharing a boat with a C2 partner.

"The only difference is going to that I don't have somebody over there that's depending on me," Eichfeld said. "I'm in this one by myself. I don't know which one I really prefer, but I'm just glad to be back and I'm ready to race as a C1."

Eichfeld must contend with World No. 1 and Beijing 2008 Silver medalist David Florence of Great Britain. World No. 2 Tony Estanguet of France will be looking to return to the podium after winning Olympic Gold in 2000 and 2004. Slovakia's Michal Martikan won Olympic Gold in 1996 and 2008.

USA Canoe/Kayak is a non-profit membership organization based in Oklahoma City, OK, promoting canoe and kayak racing in the United States. A member of the United States Olympic Committee, USA Canoe/Kayak is the national governing body for the Olympic sports of Flatwater Sprint and Whitewater Slalom and the official U.S. federation of the International Canoe Federation. Other paddling sports sanctioned by USACanoe/Kayak include Marathon, Freestyle, Wildwater, Stand Up Paddleboard, Canoe Polo, Canoe Sailing, Outrigger, and Dragon Boat. For more information about USA Canoe/Kayak, please visit us on the web at www.usack.org, on Twitter at @usacanoekayak and Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/USACanoeKayak.