"I really enjoy being part of a team in the K2 with Erin,'' she said. "It helps me with my K1 and, individually, we get faster and faster, but we also get faster as a team. At the Olympics, I have an opportunity to do two races - one being in a team and one individual - so I'm really lucky.
"Doing the K2 is really good because we're a great team and that gives me lots of confidence [in the K1] because Erin's on the sideline cheering for me as well.''
Carrington also thought the presence of Taylor provided other benefits.
"Having a teammate just helps a lot with switching on and switching off. It's really important for us - you put your business hat on and then you go home and you take it off and just relax. I think it's important to really balance that out, or else you can get too highly strung and you burn out a bit.''
Avoiding burn-out was one of the prime objectives for the New Zealand team over the weekend, with a focus on the process rather than results. That meant Taylor, and the rest of the team, left Poland with smiles on their faces but no medals around their necks.
"We're pretty happy,'' Taylor said. "You can't discount it - we beat the world champions - but it's just about racing a little bit better each time
"We've got lots of work to do still, we want to get closer up the field. We're pleased with the preparation so far, and we would've seen things today we want to work on.''
It was a similar story for the other Kiwi paddlers. Steven Ferguson and Darryl Fitzgerald achieved the best result of the team with a fourth-place in the K2 500, finishing less than a second outside the medals.
The pair exploded out of the blocks but found themselves unable to hold the pace towards the end as the more match hardened Europeans upped the ante.
"We're not worried about where we're placing us such - it's more about details and how the boat's running. The more we nail the little things now, and just work on them and make sure we don't have to worry about them at the Olympics, the better it is.''
The team now head to Duisburg in Germany for preparations for the next world cup event this weekend, before separating and to train in different locations around Europe.