One of the most eagerly anticipated races of the ICF Sprint & Paracanoe World Cup in Szeged, Hungary, the Women’s K1 500m final, did not disappoint.
Lisa Carrington once again showed her calibre to win gold, with fellow Kiwi Aimee Fisher nabbing the silver medal. Carrington put her stamp on the race early with an impressive lead, Fisher, who qualified for the final with the fastest semi-final time, pushed hard in the last 100m to close the gap but Carrington held out to successfully defend her title to win. Emma Jorgensen of Denmark rounded out the top 3 in the bronze medal position.
“To see Lisa and Aimee come top two in a close race was definitely the highlight of the day. The race demonstrated what an incredible standard they are setting against the rest of the world. An incredible result for the Kiwi’s, adding to yesterday’s medal haul of Scott Martlew’s KL2 200m silver, and the women’s K4 500m bronze”, Nathan Luce, GM Performance.
The men’s K2 500 now being an Olympic event has added an exciting element to the Szeged World Cup. In Tokyo and Rio the K2 and C2 were both raced over 1000 metres, but the shortening of the distance has meant a reassessment by teams of the best combinations.
The New Zealand World Cup team has two men’s K2 pairs, Zach Ferkins with Kurtis Imrie and Max Brown with Hamish Legarth. Both competed in lightning fast heats, coming up just short of qualifying for the A finals. The two Kiwi men’s K2 boats will race the C final tonight NZT.
Lisa Carrington and Alicia Hoskin took to the water in the women’s K2 500m, winning their semi final to advance to the A final, rounding out a big day for Carrington.
The final day of World Cup racing will deliver some exciting A finals with the women’s K2 pair and Scott Martlew and Peter Cowan in the VL3 200m paracanoe, join the livestream coverage from 7pm NZT.
