Lisa Carrington and Erin Taylor today worked their way into the women's K2 500 Olympic kayak final at Eton Dorney.
The New Zealanders finished third in their heat in 1min 44.870s to progress to the semi-finals. They were eighth fastest of the crews to go through.
In the semi-finals, Carrington and Taylor needed to finish in the first four of their race to make the final. They duly did so, coming fourth in 1min 42.764s. They had a margin of 0.4s over the fifth-placed Belarusian pair.
Carrington and Taylor qualified seventh fastest of the eight finalists. They covered the first 250 metres of their semi-final in 50.11s and came home in 52.65s.
The fastest finalist was the German pair of Franziska Weber and Tina Dietze, who scorched through the 500 metres in 1min 41.543s.
Taylor said she and Carrington were stoked to make the final, but said they realised they would have to go faster again if they were to figure among the medals.
The final is on Thursday morning.
Carringtons specialty event, the K1 200, in which she is world champion, begins on Friday.
The other New Zealand paddler in action today was Teneale Hatton, in the womens K1 500 event.
She was sixth in her heat, in a time of 1min 56.741s. Though she could make no impression on the quicker paddlers, Hatton comfortably held off the Iranian entrant to ensure she progressed to the semi-finals. She was 21st of the 25 paddlers in the first round.
Hatton found the going tough in the semi-finals, finishing fifth in her race in an improved time of 1min 54.504s. This placed her 15th of the 24 semi-finalists, but was good enough to get her into the B final.
Hatton covered the first 250 metres in 55.72s and the second 250 metres in 58.78s.
The fastest of the K1 500 semi-finalists was Hungarian Danuta Kozak, in a lightning 1min 50.469s.
