Dame Lisa hails ‘amazing’ effort in World Cup first for Gisborne’s Hoskin

World Cup gold medal-winning paddler Alicia Hoskin with proud parents Craig and Toni after she won the K2 500 metres A final teamed with Lisa Carrington in Hungary.

National champion, Olympian and now Canoe Sprint World Cup gold medallist.

Gisborne’s Alicia Hoskin’s career reached another milestone with a gold medal-winning paddle alongside Dame Lisa Carrington at the International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Cup Szeged in Hungary earlier this week.

It was a first World Cup gold for the daughter of Gisborne couple Craig and Toni Hoskin, who were on hand to see their daughter win.

Hungary was the beginning of the international season and the New Zealand team, once again led by Carrington, finished the regatta in sixth place on the medal table topped by the hosts.

North Shore-based Hoskin, 23, was one of three Gisborne athletes in the Kiwi crews — Poverty Bay Kayak Club members Quaid Thompson and Zach Ferkins were also in the New Zealand contingent.

Following on from winning bronze as part of the New Zealand women’s K4 500m crew earlier in the regatta , Hoskin and Carrington charged to gold in the K2 500 A final after finishing second in their heat and winning their semifinal.

They saved their best to the final, crossing the finish line in 1 minute 42.84 seconds — over a second clear of the second-placed Poland crew.

Hoskin admitted she was anxious heading into the final.

“It’s the most nervous I have felt but I just knew that I needed to meet those nerves with the right amount of confidence, focus and teamwork.

“I think our last 200 metres was our representation of teamwork. We care for each other a lot and I wanted to have Lisa’s back the whole way. It’s amazing what physiology you can unlock when you work together.

“As a team we knew our strength would be the first half of the race, so our main goal was to be brave off the start and then be efficient through the middle of the race.

“I knew the Polish and German crews were extremely good in the last half of the race so I wanted to have the energy to push all the way to the finish.”

Carrington hailed the efforts of her K2 partner.

“I think Alicia did an amazing job pushing it all the way through until the end. We knew we had to paddle super well because the field was so strong. We’re really happy with how we did.”

Craig Hoskin, who officiated at the World Cup, put his perspective on the race into a Facebook post.

“In sporting performance there is a state which is rarely experienced, but when it is, you will never forget it . . . flow,” he wrote.

“It’s an experience that almost transcends the boundaries of time and space, where there is an unnatural combination of excitement, yet calmness, the skills learnt appear to occur automatically, and whilst deeply engaged in the activity, it seems almost effortless.

“In a team effort, it’s doubly rare, almost requiring the stars to fully align. When watching, you see something that appears effortless, a focus that is total and when it’s over, athletes only then truly realise what happened.

“I saw that today with Lisa and Alicia. Not only did they express their own individual ability, but together they multiplied the other’s effort. That was a team with each in synch with the other. So special.”

As well as the K2 gold, Carrington won gold in the K1 500m. The New Zealand team also won two silver medals and the K4 women’s bronze.

Ferkins was a member of the K4 500 men’s crew who were fifth in the B final and was sixth in the K2 500 C final teamed with Kurtis Imrie.

Thompson was second in the D final of the K1 1000m and had a DNF (did not finish) in the K1 5000m.

The New Zealand team returned home on Monday night to prepare for the world championships in Germany in August.

The K2 500 women’s final can be watched on YouTube at tinyurl.com/bde6eu22