16 Feb 2020

Carrington completes national double

4:29 pm on 16 February 2020

World and Olympic champion Lisa Carrington has completed the double at the National Canoe Sprint Championship on Lake Karapiro.

Lisa Carrington Olympic Canoe Champion.

Lisa Carrington Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Carrington won the K1 500 title today to add to the K1 200 title she claimed on Friday.

In near perfect conditions, Carrington was pushed every inch of the way by her fellow New Zealand squad members Caitlin Ryan and Aimee Fisher in the 500 metre race clocking an impressive mark of 1.48.23 - a little under two seconds shy of the world best time - to retain her national crown.

In an impressive demonstration of the depth in New Zealand female paddling, Ryan earned silver in 1:50.42 with Fisher (1:52.54) completing the podium positions. Kayla Imrie, the other member of last year's World Cup gold medal-winning K4 500m crew, placed fourth in 1:56.37.

Carrington, who was competing in the first regatta of the year on the road to the Tokyo Olympics, said of winning the national K1 500m title: "It is never easy. The 500m is always a tough race. You have to be okay with the hurt and try to hang in there. It is nice to able to do what I've done in training."

She was also delighted at the depth of the New Zealand women's elite squad.

"It is amazing," she added. "Having such strong paddlers definitely makes these events much harder. I can't just turn up and produce a sub-par performance.

"I needed to come here and race my best. It is fantastic to have such good quality out there and ultimately it is good practice for competing at World Championships and Olympic Games."

On Thursday night, Carrington won the Sportswoman of the Year category at the Halberg Awards for the fourth straight year.

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