Carrington wins two golds, retains world title

Lisa Carrington at the 2015 Canoe World Sprint Champs. Photo / Balint Vekassy

A rampant Lisa Carrington snared her own slice of history, easily defending her K1 200m title at the canoe racing world championships in Milan tonight.

It was the 26-year-old Whakatane paddler's fourth consecutive world title over that distance, adding to the K1 500m crown she collected for the first time yesterday.

Although her Polish rival Marta Walczykiewicz jumped out to a fast start in tonight's final, Carrington soon drew level and won going away, in 40.060secs.

Walczykiewicz was second, 0.640secs back, with Teresa Portela third in 41.248.

The list of Carington's milestones is significant.

With her two gold medals this year, Carrington overtakes Paul MacDonald as New Zealand's most successful world championship athlete, with five.

She joins MacDonald as the only Kiwi to win two golds at the same championship and she is the first women in 16 years - and only third in history - to hold both the 200m and 500m titles at the same time.

She is also unbeaten at the shorter race since before the last Olympics and tonight's race was another masterclass, showcasing her dominance and confirming her status as the finest female paddler in the world.

Canoe Racing New Zealand boss Mark Weatherall paid tribute to the paddling star.

"Lisa truly is worth her weight in gold, not just for the glittering titles she brings back to our shores but also the role modeling she provides," Weatherall said.

"She's such a focused, disciplined athlete and having her in a New Zealand team rubs off on the other athletes. You can see how important this is by the way the K4 team has lifted this year, while a number of our younger paddlers shone at the recent under-23 world championships. She's a benchmark for all paddlers to aspire to."

The women's K4 crew of Jaimee Lovett, Caitlin Ryan, Aimee Fisher and Kayla Imrie created their own piece of history yesterday, finishing third in their semifinal to advance to tonight's A final. Regardless of the result tonight, it means the Olympic qualifying standard has been met and a New Zealand women's K4 boat is likely to compete in Rio de Janeiro for the first time.

It's been 23 years since New Zealand last had an Olympic K4 boat, with Richard Boyle, Finn O'Connor, Stephen Richards, and Mark Scheib making the semifinals in Barcelona in 1992, after earlier men's K4 crews in 1984 and 1988.

There has never been a women's K4 meet the qualifying standard until now, however, and if they're confirmed in the Olympic team early next year, the current crew will more than double the number of females to have competed at that level.

Of the 24 New Zealanders canoe racers at the Olympic games, only three - Erin Taylor, Carrington and Teneale Hatton - have been in the women's ranks.