Kayaking: Fourth gold for Carrington as fifth looms

New Zealand kayaker Lisa Carrington. Photo / Brett Phibbs.

Lisa Carrington capped another golden day and remained on course for the perfect world cup kayaking season in Denmark overnight.

The champion New Zealand paddler won the K1 500m final on a chilly Lake Bagsvaerd near Copenhagen, then comfortably reached the final in tonight's K1 200m.

It means Carrington is within reach of her fifth gold medal in five finals over the last three weeks of racing, though more importantly for the 25-year-old is the manner in which she's racing.

"It was tough conditions out there, being a bit cooler, so I had to really pace the race," Carrington said. "I've learned a lot - having these races on consecutive weekends has been quite intense but I've really enjoyed the experience and now I can take what I've learned and move on to the world champs, which is the big one."

The world championships in Italy in August are doubly important, as qualifying for next year's Rio de Janeiro Olympics is also on the line. Carrington's dominance has sent a clear message to her international rivals, with last night's final no exception. She was the only paddler to break 2mins in the final, recording 1min 59.588secs into a head wind.

British paddler Rachel Cawthorn was nearly a second adrift in second place, clocking 2:00.476, while China's Yu Zhou finished in 2:01.028.

Carrington picked up where she'd left off in the afternoon session, with the world and Olympic champion winning her heat and semifinal in the K1 200m to qualify fastest for tonight's final.

She clocked 44.140secs in her heat, then a sharp 42.960 in the third semifinal, with Inna Klinova (Kazakhstan) the next fastest in 43.652. Linnea Stensils (Sweden) and Yu Zhou won the other two semifinals respectively.

The other New Zealand paddler at the third world cup, Titahi Bay's Marty McDowell, finished eighth in the A final of the K1 1000m, fading at the end but giving coach Gordon Walker plenty to work on.

"Three regattas in three weeks has certainly been tough but at the same time, very revealing," Walker said. "Marty knows the areas he has to work on and if he can string some good consecutive weeks of training together, he has a chance come worlds."

Carrington's 200m final will start at 8.39pm (NZ time) tonight.