Rio Olympic Women: Alyce Burnett and Alyssa Bull making waves in kayaking

THEY had to cause a major upset just to get to Rio and then they made the final of the K2. Kayakers Alyce Burnett and Alyssa Bull win Swoop Play of the Day.

Alyssa Bull and Alyce Burnett celebrate qualifying for the K2 final.

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THEY had to cause a major upset just to get to Rio and then they made the final of the K2 event.

Alyce Burnett and Alyssa Bull have earned the SwoopPlay of the Day for their fabulous performance at an Olympic Games they thought they would be watching on the TV.

Even they didn’t expect to be competing in Rio.

But the surf lifesaving pair decided to give it everything they had in Rio trials earlier this year and ended up beating favourites Jo Brigden-Jones and Naomi Flood for the K2 spot.

Alyssa Bull and Alyce Burnett racing their K2.

It caused a sensation, with the two teammates forced to go head to head in the K1 so at least one of them could paddle in Rio with Flood winning this battle.

In Rio on Tuesday, the paddlers earned a spot in the K2 final against Russia, Belarus, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

It was here their bid for a fairytale finish was thwarted by weed caught on their boat.

The pair finished eight in the race for gold.

“We were aiming for Tokyo, so we didn’t expect to be here,’’ Bull admitted.

“I was big into surf [lifesaving] but since it’s not an Olympic sport so that was my big driving force to turning to kayaking and it’s certainly paid off, to be on the biggest stage in the world.”

The Australian paddlers join our beach volleyballers, Anna Meares, Matildas star Lisa De Vanna,Opals captain Penny Taylor and equestrians Sue Hearn and Mary Hanna in winning Swoop Play of the Day