Bay of Plenty's Lisa Carrington is simply unstoppable. Photo / Bence Vekassy/ICF
Bay of Plenty's Lisa Carrington is simply unstoppable. Photo / Bence Vekassy/ICF
Bay of Plenty's Lisa Carrington has produced a golden weekend at the ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships in Szeged.
She ignited the final day on Sunday night (NZT) by adding a K1 500m gold medal to the one she won in the K1 200m on Saturday.
It had been four years since Carrington last won the 500m title in Milan but this year it was never in doubt as she obliterated a world-class field.
From the first few strokes, the 30-year-old asserted her dominance and by 150m she was already a boat length ahead of the field.
By the halfway mark she held a monster 1.93s advantage on her nearest rival, the 2017 world champion Volha Khudzenka, with the defending world champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist Danuta Kozak of Hungary a distant fourth.
Khudzenka, of Belarus, marginally closed the gap in the second half but Carrington was never seriously challenged and cruised to her second gold medal in Szeged. She finished in 1m 55.76s – 1.63s clear of Khudzenka in second.
Carrington said winning her second gold medal of the championships was "wicked".
"It is always scary going out there knowing this is my one chance every year where I have to deliver my best performance. We had a strong headwind, which always makes things more challenging, and this added quite a few more seconds on to the race.
"I went out there, did the best I could and today I earned the rewards for all the hard training. It is an event that challenges me hugely, so it is great to be able to nail it."
Bay of Plenty's Lisa Carrington leads the New Zealand women's K4 500m crew to a spot in the World Championship final. Photo / Bence Vekassy/ICF
Carrington later returned to the water alongside Kayla Imrie, Aimee Fisher and Caitlin Ryan for the A Final of the women's K4 500m as the New Zealand crew placed fourth.
The defending champions Hungary took the win in 1m 32.91s. Belarus took silver in 1m 33.69s with Poland finishing powerfully to take bronze in 1m 34.77s. The Kiwis had to settle for fourth in 1m 35.35s but had the consolation of securing a spot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"The K4 was really challenging," Carrington said.
"We are racing the best crews in the world and to compete against them is pretty special. Today shows how big the challenge is leading into next year and I'm looking forward to stepping up to see how we can improve."
HAPPY FACES!! 😊😊 Some very big smiles after a great team effort at the #ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. What was your favourite moment? @ Szeged
Max Brown and Kurtis Imrie signed off their open World Championship debut with a plucky display to place sixth in a fiercely competitive B Final of the men's K2 1000m.
The resolute Kiwis, however rallied in the latter stages of the race to haul themselves into sixth place and record a competitive 3m 31.66s. The Danes secured top spot, 2.65s clear.
Quaid Thompson finished a highly respectable 12th in the long-distance men's 5km A Final. Competing in a starting field of 35 the Poverty Bay paddler completed the course in 21m 14.72s – 1m 20.64s behind gold medallist Aleh Yurenia of Belarus.
Thompson's performance was a significant upgrade on the 2018 World Championships final, where he placed 18th.
