Hoskin hunting medals at World Cup

Dame Lisa Carrington and Alicia Hoskin, who comes from Gisborne, are in action at the Canoe Sprint World Cup in Hungary. They were in the K4 500 metres crew who won their heat to move into the semis. Picture supplied

Three Gisborne athletes are in Szeged, Hungary, contesting the Canoe Sprint World Cup.

Alicia Hoskin, Zack Ferkins and Quaid Thompson are part of the New Zealand contingent.

Auckland-based Hoskin is a member of the women’s K4 500 crew who won their heat on Thursday night (NZ time).

Dame Lisa Carrington, Hoskin, Olivia Brett, and Tara Vaughan advanced to the semifinals with the quickest time.

Olympic gold medallist Carrington also won her K1 500 heat, as did compatriot Aimee Fisher, who finished fastest across the heats with a time of 1 minute 58.74 seconds.

Thompson advanced to the semifinals of the K1 mens 1000m after placing fifth in his heat.

Ferkins was in the Kiwi crew who were third in their K4 500m heat to make the semifinals.

On the Canoe Racing NZ website, general manager of performance Nathan Luce said prior to the regatta: “The team are all in great form.

“We’ve had time to adjust to the travel and enjoyed some solid training sessions on the race course in Szolnok.

“The environment has served us well and brought us together as one big team.”

Meanwhile, Hoskin goes into the competition on the back of a successful New Zealand and Oceania Canoe Sprint Championships and Asia Pacific Cup on Lake Karapiro.

Competing for the North Shore Canoe Club, Hoskin picked up victories in the open women’s  K2 and K4 500 metres finals, second in the K1 200 behind Carrington and  third in the K1 500 behind Fisher and winner Carrington.