The New Zealand team definitely made their mark on the first ICF Sprint & Paracanoe World Cup in Szeged, Hungary. It was an outstanding start to the international season, the team finished the regatta in 6th place on the medal table, with two gold, two silver (including Paracanoe) and one bronze.
On the final day of the World Cup the women’s K2 pair of Dame Lisa Carrington and Alicia Hoskin stormed to the finish line in their 500m A final to win gold. An elated Hoskin could not hide her joy at picking up her first World Cup gold medal. A very well deserved win from the pair who finished in 3rd and 4th place at last year’s two World Cups, putting them in good stead with olympic qualifying coming up later this year.
When asked about her thoughts on the race Carrington said “It was a really good race, I think Alicia did an amazing job just pushing it all the way through until the end. We knew we had to paddle super well because the field was so strong. We’re really happy with how we did.”
The win made it two golds and one bronze for five-time Olympic Champion Lisa Carrington. A World Cup performance she and the team will be very happy with in an Olympic build up year.
In other day four action,the Paracanoe team finished their World Cup with solid performances from Peter Cowan and Scott Martlew in the VL3 200m A final, coming in at 4th and 8th place respectively.
New Zealand’s two men’s K2 pairs raced in the K2 500m C Final. Max Brown and Hamish Legarth placed 3rd, with Zach Ferkins and Kurtis Imrie in 6th. A great start that they will be looking to build on before their next international event.
With World Cup 1 now wrapped up, our New Zealand team can be very proud of their performance, with five medals to show for their efforts. The team will now return to New Zealand to continue training before heading back to Europe for the World Championships in Duisberg, Germany in August.
New Zealand medal results:
Gold – K1 Women’s 500m, Lisa Carrington
Gold – K2 Women’s 500m, Lisa Carrington & Alicia Hoskin
Silver – K1 Women’s 500m, Aimee Fisher
Silver – KL2 Men’s 200m, Scott Martlew
Bronze – K4 Women’s 500m, Lisa Carrington, Alicia Hoskin, Olivia Brett, Tara Vaughan
