Adam van Koeverden of Canada set a world best time of 1 minute 35.554 seconds in the Olympic canoeing flatwater kayak single (K1) 500m heat on Tuesday.

Koeverden, who won the K1 500m title in Athens, advanced straight to the final. The 26-year-old also won the heat in the K1 1,000m on Monday, showing a good form to better his third place over the distance in Athens.

The earlier world best of 1:35.630 was also set by him at a World Cup event in Poznan of Poland in June.

"It was a heat and I can go faster. I am happy to hear that I have broken it but I can definitely go faster than that," said the reigning world champion.

"I'm very happy that racing has begun because I've been here 10 days," he said. "I've seen people winning medals so I have just been wanting to get on with it."

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2008)