Olympic gold medallist Ken Wallace shapes as Australian canoeing's go-to paddler as the preparation for the Rio Games steps up.
Already a K1 Olympic champion, Wallace will look to continue his strong K2 form at the Australian Sprint Canoe Championships at Penrith from Wednesday.
Canoeing is one of Australia's strongest Olympic disciplines. It's one of just four sports to produce local champions at both Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.
It's the prospect of Wallace moving to Australia's reigning gold medal K4 boat that holds the most intrigue before Rio next year.
The 2008 Olympic K1 500m champion will try his hand in the four-seat boat alongside Murray Stewart, Jacob Clear and David Smith, with the fourth member of Australia's 2012 winning team out while awaiting the outcome of a doping investigation.
National performance director Richard Fox confirmed that gold medallist Tate Smith had been provisionally suspended by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority for a positive test last year.
"It's still under their jurisdiction. It's a matter between (ASADA) and him," Fox said.
"He's not racing so he won't be selected."
Enter Wallace, who will attempt to improve an already-champion boat at the national championships.
The 31-year-old is very much in demand, having won a silver medal at last year's World Championships in the K2 1000m event with Lachlan Tame.
Fox hopes the weekend's championships, which lead into World Cup events and the World Championships in Italy in August, help to decide where each paddler fits best.
"All of the athletes want to be in a winning boat, whether it's a single or a pair or a four," Fox said.
"Our goal is that we line up in those three 1000m events (in Rio) and we're racing to win in all of them.
"But we're not alone in trying to do that. Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany - they've got world-class athletes."
"The question is can we match people into the right combinations to achieve that.
"In the K4, we've still got a bit of work to do to shape up a new crew."
