Tauranga whitewater slalom paddler Luuka Jones is a pen-stroke away from going to the Beijing Olympics after a stunning reversal of form yesterday at a World Cup competition in Slovenia.

Jones, 19, satisfied the selection criteria for inclusion in the New Zealand Olympic team after finishing inside the top 16 nations at Tacen.

Her final selection as New Zealand's first female canoe slalom Olympian now rests with the New Zealand Olympic Committee.

The former Otumoetai College student was today overjoyed at meeting the tough selection criteria.

"It's still sinking in a bit ... the Olympics is something I had always dreamed about and now that dream has come true for me," she told the Bay of Plenty Times.

"The level of support from my family and friends has been awesome. It's not something that is easily done alone and it's great to know that my parents are proud of me however I do."

Jones qualified a New Zealand boat in the K1 for Beijing at the Oceania championships in Sydney earlier this year, but needed to back that up with a top-16 placing at one of two World Cups in Prague or Slovenia.

She bombed out in the Czech Republic and arrived in Tacen last week needing a huge improvement on her 39th placing.

"Going into the race in Prague I was pretty nervous as this is only my second year of international racing as a senior and the atmosphere at a World Cup is overwhelming.

"Tacen is quite different to Prague, with a large drop at the start and some very unpredictable water down the rest of the course."

Jones said her cautious approach in the qualification saw her finish 35th but she opened up in the feature event.

"There was no room for error and I needed to be confident and believe that I could get the moves. I nailed the hard moves up the top and although I had a small error down the bottom, I finished up 28th and 15th nation, which for me is a vast improvement from 42nd last year."

Tauranga paddler James Dawson also qualified in the single-seat canoe for an Olympic spot but wasn't so lucky in Tacen, missing the semifinals.