According to one of the few Kiwi athletes who knows the feeling, it will take time for Alicia Hoskin to realise what she has achieved.
Video / NZ Herald
By Michael Burgess in Paris
Around five or six years ago, Dame Lisa Carrington gave Aimee Fisher a piece of advice she has always remembered. The paddlers – who will take centre stage in today’s K1 500m final at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium – have become compelling rivals in recenttimes. No one has pushed Carrington more than her compatriot in this Olympic cycle, with some spectacular contests in New Zealand and overseas.
It’s why this potential final has been dubbed the “race of the century” by kayaking enthusiasts, who can’t wait to see the pair face off at the highest level. But Carrington and Fisher has also been teammates in the past, especially in various K4 crews. It was during one of those phases that Carrington introduced one of her key ideas, an element of the mindset that has taken her to unprecedented success.
“Lisa has an expression that she taught Aimee,” explains Chris Fisher, Aimee’s father who also coached her for a long period during her junior career. “Charge the bull. The bull is lactic acid, it is the place you are going which is really somewhere you don’t want to go. The K1 500 is a brutal event, it pushes you to the very edge. So charge the bull. There is a bull on the other side of the paddock. Don’t avoid it. Charge it.”
“It’s such a powerful idea, that [coach] Gordon [Walker] and Lisa came up with. There’s a big bull coming down the paddock towards you and you know there is a hell coming that no one else can understand and you make a choice, let’s go head-on, me and the bull.”
Lisa Carrington (left) and Aimee Fisher embrace after a women's K1 500m world championship qualification race at Lake Karapiro in April 2022. Photo / Photosport
It’s a small window into what they will go through on Saturday, in search of precious metal. They are not close friends and relationships have been strained at times, as a byproduct of the fallout ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, when Fisher left the programme, citing issues with the environment. It’s a long, complex story, though bridges have been gradually mended over the last 18 months, particularly between Fisher and Canoe Racing New Zealand.
But equally, there is immense mutual respect. Carrington knows Fisher is her greatest rival and Fisher is aware that no one pushes her to greater heights than the “GOAT in a boat”. It’s akin to Federer and Nadal, or Borg and McEnroe. And the fact that two Kiwis are at the apex of the sport should be celebrated, given there are other nations that have much greater depth.
“It is a magnificent rivalry,” says Chris Fisher. “There is a history of course but when you strip away everything that has happened they are just both just absolute warriors. It’s not so much their physiology, though they are both very special. It’s not just their talent and technique, which is obviously second to none. But it is their ability to push themselves beyond where anyone else wants to go. Both of them go out there, they are not scared of the pain and are willing to go to the limit.”
After Carrington’s massive haul at the last Olympics, Fisher competed at the world championships later that year (Carrington sat the event out), winning gold in the K1 500m and beating most of the Tokyo field in the process. They had an unforgettable duel at the 2022 national championships and another series in 2023, before the two World Cup races earlier this year, where Fisher edged Carrington in both.
Despite those recent results, Carrington will be the slight favourite on Saturday. She has arrived in Paris in peak form and has the advantage of so much experience in Olympic finals (nine in all). However Fisher will be fresher, with a much lighter schedule here and has devastating power in the second half of the race.
While most are expecting a Kiwi quinella, there are other paddlers who can’t be discounted, particularly the imposing Hungarian Tamara Csipes. She took silver in Tokyo and has recorded some bullet times in domestic races in the Olympics build-up, though she has also carried a heavy workload here.
But on the evidence of the last few years, Carrington and Fisher are likely to go bow for bow, in a genuine “stop the nation” scenario.
“This is a clash of the titans,” said Chris Fisher. “There were born to do this race and then give each other a hug when it is over.”
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics’, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.
