London Olympian Steve Bird has dominated the men’s K1 200 A final at the Oceania Sprint Championships and second Grand Prix in Adelaide today to push his claims for Olympic nomination.

The weekend’s event doubles as the first Olympic selection trial with the second to take place at the National Sprint Championships in Perth next month.

Bird dominated the final, producing a time of 37.03 to finish 0.69 seconds ahead of fellow Western Australian Brodie Holmes.

Scott Bicknell of New Zealand finished third in 37.73.

“I have not seen the actual footage but if it was a boat length (win) fantastic,” Bird said.

“Training has been going really well so it is just a matter of executing and going through what you know and doing it on the day.”

Today’s victory puts him a step ahead of his rivals in pursuit of Olympic nomination.

“It’s another hoop to have jumped through, an important hoop, yesterday was won but it’s the first race in a best of three situation so I have won that one and if I win at Nationals that’s all of the winning done and then who knows, hopefully, that will be enough but you never know,” Bird said.

The Canning River kayaker has recently shifted more of his focus to the K1 after a change by selectors to the national selection policy.

“It has taken its toll on a few training weeks since the policy was made clear but we train twice to three times a day together and the training we do for K2 bodes well for the K1, we haven’t stopped training in the K2 or anything like that but it certainly comes with its downs and its sad moments I guess but we are more than just an Olympic K2 crew.”

It comes as a change to Bird as he is used to bouncing ideas off his K2 partner Jesse Phillips.

He finds racing in the K1 far more nerve-racking.

“You do not have anyone to chat to or bounce things off when you are paddling up to the start line but it has to be met with excitement and energy considering the varying away from the K2, you have to bring your own flair to it I guess.” Bird said.

Bird is looking forward to returning home to Perth to prepare for the second selection trial after spending the past three weeks away from home, which included a training camp in Perisher prior to the event.

“You cannot really take the pressure off but you kind of need to to give yourself a bit of a break because it has been quite a big week,” Bird said.

“I would just like to commend all my fellow competitors in that race, there are big things on the line and it’s a nerve-racking race.”

“We have a great crew of sprinters and we go toe-to-toe in time trials and training so this week has been quite a bit of pressure, so I think just a couple of days to reflect, get back into some hard training, it will be horrible because the body is in peak condition for this, probably hurt the body a little bit and then start tapering again, and spend some time with family and friends because we have not been home for three weeks.”

The National Sprint Championships will be held at Champion Lakes in Perth from 2 to 6 March.