From the bottom of the world in Aotearoa to the grand stage of international competition, witness the dedication, passion, and unwavering spirit that defines our nation’s paddlers as they strive for glory on the global stage.
Paris 2024 was a record-breaking event for New Zealand’s largest-ever Olympic Canoe Sprint team, with 10 athletes competing across men’s and women’s kayak events. For the first time in history, both the men’s and women’s K4 teams competed at the same Olympics, with both teams qualifying for the A finals.
The New Zealand team swept the women’s events in the Canoe Sprint Programme, securing three gold medals:
Gold in Women’s K4 500m: (Lisa Carrington, Alicia Hoskin, Olivia Brett, Tara Vaughan) – New Zealand became the fourth country ever to win this event at the Olympics since 1984 and the first non-European country to achieve this remarkable feat.
Gold in Women’s K2 500m: (Lisa Carrington, Alicia Hoskin) – New Zealand is the only country other than Hungary to win back-to-back Olympic titles in this event, with a commanding 2-second margin of victory, one of the largest since the event first became part of the Olympic Programme in 1960.
Gold in Women’s K1 500m: Lisa Carrington continued her unmatched legacy with a powerful solo performance in the K1 final.
New Zealand kayakers on the top two steps of the podium rounded off the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Szeged on Sunday night NZT, after a truly phenomenal race saw both Aimee Fisher and Dame Lisa Carrington go under the world best time in the Womens K1 500m final and win World Cup medals.
This weekend’s ICF Paracanoe World Championships in Hungary marks an important milestone for the NZ Paracanoe team in their Paddle to Paris journey. The event is the final opportunity to qualify for the 2024 Paralympic Games and Corbin Hart and Peter Cowan are hoping their results will allow them to join two-time Paralympian Scott Martlew in Paris.
Canoe Racing New Zealand and the New Zealand Olympic Committee has proudly named it’s largest ever women’s canoe sprint team for the 2024 Olympic Games, with six athletes set to wear the fern and paddle for New Zealand in Paris in August.
A golden 90minutes in Penrith gave Canoe Racing New Zealand a massive boost on its paddle to Paris, with 3 crews provisionally qualifying 6 more quota spots for the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games. This sets the stage for potentially a 10-strong New Zealand Canoe Racing Olympic team, the largest squad ever sent.
The kiwi kayaking community watched in hope as the New Zealand Men’s K4 took to the water at the World Championships in August as they sought to qualify a men’s K4 for the Olympics for the first time since 1992. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, with an unlucky draw meaning the men missed out on making the A final despite having the seventh fastest semi-final time.
History shows that winning a K4 world championship has been an elusive beast for New Zealand Canoe Racing teams. That is, until this past August at the 2023 ICF Canoe Sprint & Paracanoe World Championships when Lisa Carrington, Alicia Hoskin, Olivia Brett and Tara Vaughan made history by becoming the first New Zealand K4 team to win a world title.
Before leaving for Europe, Canoe Racing NZ General Manager of Performance, Nathan Luce admitted it was a stressful time for the team, with no boats confirmed for the upcoming Olympics or Paralympics. Four weeks on from the 2023 World Championships, where the New Zealand team won three gold medals and qualified an impressive five Olympic and Paralympic quotas, Luce is feeling slightly more at ease.
In exactly one year’s time at the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics, New Zealand kayakers will be setting their sights on adding to the nation’s rich history of success in Olympic Canoe Sprint.
With Olympic & Paralympic qualifications on the horizon the New Zealand Kayaking team are on a mission to achieve something that has never been done before.
