Dual silvers for Lisa
New Zealand had to settle for three silver medals at the canoe sprint world championships in Portugal yesterday, after being on the wrong side of some thrilling finishes.
Lisa Carrington was edged out in the women’s K1 500m final, before photo finishes were required to determined that firstly Kayla Imrie and Aimee Fisher in the K2 200m final, then Carrington and Caitlin Ryan in the K2 500m final, were also pipped for gold.
Carrington has seven world championship titles but has claimed the K1 500m only once. She stormed out to an early lead in the final before dropping off the pace in the closing stages and was beaten by Olympic champion Danuta Kozak of Hungary.
It was then 2017 world K4 500m bronze medallists, Fisher and Imrie teaming up in the K2 200m.
After the Ukrainian pair of Marila Kichasova-Skoryk and Anastasiya Horlova took a clear early advantage, they faded late, and the Kiwis and German duo Franziska Weber and Tina Dietze made their moves.
As both crews flashed across the line a photo was required to determine that it was the Germans, in 37.157 seconds, who were victorious.
Then came another matchup between Carrington and Kozak, this time with the help of teammates in the K2 500m.
Carrington and Ryan were the defending world champions, and made the stronger start, with a 0.69-second advantage at the halfway mark. Kozak and Anna Karasz inched closer in the second half of the race and pipped the Kiwis for gold by just 0.023 seconds.