Another successful campaign completed
AUCKLAND: A few hours after her final race at the canoe racing world championships in Canada on Monday, Lisa Carrington was able to catch up with her family, celebrating together after another impressive international campaign.
Those moments of quiet reflection have not been possible since 2019 due to Covid, with events being cancelled, before the closed bubble at the Tokyo Olympics.
It was also a chance to look back on another extremely demanding and successful regatta.
The New Zealand women’s squad competed in 10 races and the 33yearold Carrington was involved in every one, anchoring the K2 500m and K4 500m crews along with her solo pursuits.
The high point was her convincing K1 500m triumph (the third at this level) along with her eighth successive K1 200m triumph, to boost her career tally of world championship gold medals to 12.
Carrington was a boat length clear of the field in the K1 500m, with Croatia’s Anamaria Govorcinovic 1.28sec behind in second, and she enjoyed virtually the same margin in the shorter event.
Sure, fields always look a bit different in a postOlympics year, as some competitors take a sabbatical, but Carrington still bested 27 other paddlers in the K1 500m and 19 in the sprint event.
And that was despite an unusual buildup, with an extended postOlympics break, time out for her wedding in March and the unique K1 500m selection duel with Aimee
Fisher at the national championships in April.
That has given Carrington confidence that she is on the right track, in the neverending quest for improvement.
‘‘I guess when you’re trying to be the best you can — all the time — and trying to get better there’s always going to be things,’’ Carrington said.
‘‘You just have to keep learning and changing and growing, but also maintaining a lot of those things that really worked, like the foundational basics.
‘‘So we’ve got some really good grounds with what we know but we also really want to keep pushing and challenging ourselves. Where can I get better? Where can the team get better?’’
Carrington was the senior figure among an extremely green group, with Alicia Hoskin (22), Olivia Brett (20) and Tara Vaughan (18).
The rookie K4 500m crew showed their potential with a fifth place.
While Poland was streets ahead of the rest, the Kiwis were only 0.16sec behind bronze medallist Mexico and crossed in front of the likes of Hungary and Germany.
Carrington was heartened by that performance, but warned there was a long road ahead.
‘‘There’s a huge opportunity for the team to individually improve and it’s just maintaining that focus for the next 12 months,’’ Carrington said.
‘‘Next year is [Olympic] qualifying year, which is a big year. And as we know, the world still gets faster. So as fast as we want to get they’ll also get faster.
‘‘It’s just trying to just be so consistent in our training and our learning and what it takes to raise all those little things that make up a good race.’’
In the K2 500m, Carrington and Hoskin were pipped by 0.02sec for bronze by Belgium, with Poland and Germany claiming the top two places. The developing Kiwi duo do not yet have the slick combination that Carrington and Caitlin Ryan engendered over several years, but there is promise.
‘‘I love paddling with her,’’ Carrington said of Hoskin.
‘‘If we can just tighten up as a crew, we can make things better.’’
Carrington has a few weeks off — with some long awaited family time — before the squad resumes training in September.