New Zealand K4's make history at Paris Olympic Games
Canoe Racing New Zealand has long envisioned the day when the world would see not one, but two kiwi K4 boats competing at the Olympic Games. This week, for the first time in its rich kayaking history, New Zealand fielded both a men’s and women’s K4 (4-person kayak) crew at an Olympics. Both crews advanced to Thursday’s semi-finals.
The Women’s K4 boat, consisting of Dame Lisa Carrington, Alicia Hoskin, Tara Vaughan, and Olivia Brett, delivered a stellar performance, finishing first in their heat and securing a direct entry into the K4 500m final on Thursday night (NZT).
It was a statement-making performance for this crew, who made history last year when they became the first New Zealand K4 (male or female) to win a world championship.
“A really good race for us this morning, but we still have one more to go.” said Lisa Carrington following the day’s racing. “The scary thing is all four of us have to be on the same page, every stroke the same.”
The Men’s K4 advanced through to the semi-final via their 2nd place finish in the quarterfinal. Their time of 1.20.56 was the third-fastest qualifying time for the semifinals, behind the German team (1.20.51) and the Australian team who set a new Olympic record (1.19.39).
New Zealand were unlucky to miss out on automatic K4 Olympic qualification at the 2023 World Championships in Duisburg, after placing 4th in their semi final when a top three result was required to earn a spot in the 9 boat A final. Agonisingly, their time of 1.19.864 was the 6th fastest semi-final time.
Instead, the 4-man boat was put together through a K2 qualification quota and an C2 qualification quota which were achieved at the Oceania Qualifying event in February in Sydney.
The notoriously challenging Canoe boat has not been a significant discipline in paddling in Aotearoa up to this point, but NZ men’s squad have since embraced the task to learn to paddle the C2.
With both K4’s set to line up in the semi-finals on Thursday night NZT, the athletes set their sights to the next step - advancing to the top 8 final.
The kiwi contingent also delivered in the K2 heats with Lisa Carrington and Alicia Hoskin excelling in the Women’s K2 500m event, winning Heat 2 ahead of the Belgian boat and advancing directly to the semifinals. Avoiding additional races will be key for 5-time gold medallist Carrington, who has a busy schedule over the next few days competing in K4, K2 and K1 events.
The Men’s K2 duo, Kurtis Imrie and Hamish Legarth, started strong in their 500m quarterfinal race, battling it out with Lithuania to secure fourth and progress through to the semifinals on Friday.
Unfortunately, Aimee Fisher and Lucy Matehaere missed out on a spot in the semi-finals, ending their WK2 500m hopes. Aimee Fisher will return for the Women’s K1 heats on Day 2 of racing on Wednesday, August 7.
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