Kiwi paddlers claim gold and silver
A surprise silver medal to Kiwis Aimee Fisher and Caitlin Ryan has backed up gold from Lisa Carrington in the opening World Cup canoe sprint event of the year.
The women’s K2 500m boat of Fisher and Ryan surged to a halfway lead in their final in Portugal on Saturday before bowing in a tight finish to the Hungarian duo of Anna Karasz and Ninetta Vad.
The victors’ winning time of one minute 40.108 seconds was just 0.356 seconds ahead of the Kiwis.
It was just their third race together in the K2.
‘‘We weren’t too focused on the result in the final; instead we were just making sure we got our rhythm right and using the strength we’ve been building on in the gym all year and to come away with a silver, with a good mate to celebrate with, is an amazing feel- ing,’’ Ryan said. They were also to contest last night’s K2 200m race, which was a straight final.
Ryan and Fisher didn’t have long to celebrate, climbing into their specialist K4 boat with Kayla Imrie and Jaimee Lovett for the afternoon session.
In the second heat of the K4 500m, the quartet overcame a sloppy start to haul in the Portuguese team, clocking 1min 39.56sec to again qualify directly for last night’s A final.
Carrington started her international season in winning style, winning the women’s K1 500 final. She was to attempt to do the double in the K1 200 discipline overnight.
The Kiwi paddler was third at the halfway stage in tough, choppy conditions on the Montemor-oVelho course then powered through to win in a time of 1min 48.016sec. She was half a boat length ahead of the hugely promising Karasz, with Krisztina Fazekas-Zur claiming bronze.
She later won her K1 200 heat to be the fastest qualifier for the final.
Carrington is part of a New Zealand team contesting the belowstrength event – the first of three World Cup meets in successive weekends in Europe.
Earlier, New Zealand’s Marty McDowell was seventh in the men’s K1 1000 final.
Starting in lane eight, McDowell was a close-up fourth at the 250m mark but faded in the latter stages in the race won by the host country’s Fernando Pimenta.
McDowell backed that up later in the K1 500m, finishing third in his heat behind former Olympic champion Adam Van Koeverden (Canada) and France’s Cyrille Carre, with the top three going straight to the A final.
Scott Bicknell was to contest the B final of the K1 200m after drawing a wide lane and being buffeted by the strong crosswinds in his semifinal.