Lisa Carrington wasted little time in making her presence felt when the canoe sprints began today.
Carrington, 32, is already a legend in the canoeing world, having world consecutive gold medals in the women’s K1 200, plus nine straight world titles in the same event. In her spare time she has won an Olympic bronze medal in the K1 500 and 10 other world championship medals outside the K1 200.
She quickly showed in Tokyo she is still the paddler to beat.
She won her heat of the K1 200 in 40.715s and was the only competitor to break 41 seconds. The paddler closest to her was Hungarian Dora Lucz, who won her heat in 41.098s.
The K1 200 semi-finals will be held tomorrow, with the final to follow later in the day.
Carrington was soon back on the water, combining with Caitlin Regal to win their heat of the women’s K2 500. They won in 1min 43.83s with more than a second back to the second-placed Germans.
Overall, Carrington and Regal were the third-fastest crew and moved straight into tomorrow’s semi-finals.
New Zealand’s other entry in the K2 500 was the pairing of Alicia Hoskin and Teneale Hatton, who were fourth in their heat in 1min 49.832s, five seconds down on the winners Poland.
In their quarter-final later in the day, Hoskin and Hatton made a much better start than in their heat and hung on well to finish fourth in 1min 50.507s and earn a spot in the semi-finals.
Regardless of the result, Hoskin and Hatton will benefit from the outing and be better prepared for the women’s K4 500 on Friday.