Carrington second at Olympic venue

Lisa Carrington has had her first taste of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics canoeing venue that may trouble competitors next year.

The two-time Olympic champion in the women’s K1 200m class finished second in the Ready Set Tokyo canoe sprint K1 500m test event last weekend at the Sea Forest Waterway venue that will host the canoe sprint and rowing events next year.

Carrington, coming off a holiday break following her dual triumph at the 2019 canoe sprint world championships in Hungary, was second in a time of 2mins 00.394secs in the class in which she won Olympic bronze in 2016 in Rio in what were described as windy conditions.

Stuff has already raised concerns over the conditions Kiwi athletes may face at the venue next year in the two sports expected to provide a significant portion of New Zealand’s medals in Tokyo.

The 30-year-old, who won gold in both the K1 500 and K1 200 in Hungary, was just 0.41 seconds behind test event winner Maryna Litvinchuk of Belarus. Carrington’s winning time over 500m at the world championships was 1:55.76.

Litvinchuk, who won gold in the K2 500 at the world championships along with crewmate Volha Khudsenka, repeated that win in Tokyo and made it a triple triumph by winning the women’s K1 200 race at the test event in Tokyo, which Carrington sat out, with New Zealand’s Aimee Fisher finishing sixth. Fisher and Caitlin Ryan teamed up to place eighth in the K2 500.

Carrington contested four events at the 2018 world championships and three – K1 200, K1 500 and K4 500 – in Hungary last month and will be planning her programme now for Tokyo.