‘Dream run’ for Kiwi team
Olympic champion Lisa Carrington has helped the New Zealand kayak team storm to their best-ever World Cup performance, collecting four gold medals at the opening event of the season in Portugal.
A day after Caitlin Ryan’s upset K1 500m victory, Aimee Fisher and Carrington paired up to win a dramatic K2 200m and 500m double just 50mins apart, before linking with fellow Olympians Ryan and Kayla Imrie to capture the K4 500m crown near the end of final day proceedings.
Capping a remarkable three days at the Montemor-o-velho venue, New Zealand’s younger paddlers also recorded a flurry of final appearances, leaving the Kiwis delighted with their efforts.
‘‘The sport’s just growing so much and it’s pretty crazy to think it was back in 2015 that we won our first gold medal in the K4 here,’’ Fisher said. ‘‘To come home with four gold medals is just a dream run.’’
Carrington and Fisher were 0.689secs clear of Portugal’s Joana Vasconcelos and Francisca Laia in the K2 200m final, with Imrie and Briar Mcleely fourth behind Ukraine’s Anastasiia Todorova and Anastasiya Horlova.
They barely had time to dry off, accept their medals and stand for the national anthem before they were straight back in action, backing up in the K2 500m to win in 1:41.706.
That was nearly 3secs ahead of Portugal’s Joana Vasconcelos and Francisca Laia (1:44.530) with the young Hungarian pair of Noe´ mi Lucz and Zso´ fia Szenasi third in 1:46.066.
New Zealand’s second boat of Kim Thompson and Rebecca Cole were right in the thick of the pack in seventh in 1:47.730, something which pleased Carrington just as much.
‘‘We didn’t go out there to win gold medals. We went out there to put in some strong performances and work together as a team, so we are very proud of how it went,’’ Carrington said.
The K4 victory was much tighter but just as sweet, with the Kiwi quartet holding off the challenge from Ukraine, who finished a spot ahead of them in fourth at last year’s Olympics. Imrie, Fisher, Carrington and Ryan flew home in 1:32.105.
The ICF canoe sprint World Cup now heads to Szeged in Hungary next weekend.