Kayaking: Duo claim more final spots

Lisa Carrington has joined Marty McDowell in finals in Denmark overnight. Photo / Ben Fraser

A boutique New Zealand kayaking team has continued their impressive world cup form with both Lisa Carrington and Marty McDowell reaching A finals in Denmark overnight.

Carrington and McDowell are racing for the third week in a row, after world cups in Portugal and Germany, with the women's K4 and sprinter Scott Bicknell electing to miss the Copenhagen round.

The added load didn't bother Carrington, however, as she cruised through both heats and semifinals in the K1 500m to qualify fastest for tonight's A final on the spectacular Lake Bagsvaerd.

Carrington clocked 1min 58.420secs in her heat, then went 1:53.480 in her semifinal. Only Britain's Rachel Cawthorn (1:54.348) was able to stick with her, while Germany's Melanie Gebhardt (1:58.852) and China's Yu Zhou (1:55.836) won the other two semifinals. Carrington won the K1 200-500m double in Portugal, then sat out the longer race in Germany.

McDowell finished third in his K1 1000m heat, then lifted things up a notch in his semifinal, taking more than 3secs off his heat time with a 3:49.204 to snatch second, behind local favorite René Poulsen (Denmark) and just ahead of Italian Alberto Ricchetti (3:49.364) and Turkey's Gabor Bozsik (3:49.468).

That put McDowell into tonight's A final, after also qualifying in Portugal. German Max Hoff looms as the man to beat, after qualifying straight from the heats with a powerful 3:45.172, while Tunisia's Mohamed Mrabet and Belgium's Laurens Pannecoucke also won their heats.

A clearly shattered McDowell couldn't back up in the non-Olympic K1 500m, paddling through his semifinal to save himself for a big second day.

Carrington's K1 500m final will be at 8.10pm (NZ time) tonight, with McDowell racing at 8.27pm in the K1 1000 decider. Carrington will then move into the K1 200m heats and semifinals in the afternoon session.