Five-time Olympic canoe sprint gold medallist Lisa Carrington showed her champion qualities to pip rival Aimee Fisher and level up their duel for one world championships berth on Sunday.
Carrington beat Fisher by just 0.11 seconds on Lake Karapiro in their K1 500m morning race to send it to a decider, which is scheduled for Thursday.
Fisher, world champion in the event last year, beat Carrington by 0.08sec in the national final on Saturday.
Aaron Gillions/Photosport
Lisa Carrington on the water during Sunday’s win over Aimee Fisher.
The two paddlers are in a best-of-three duel for a solitary New Zealand women’s K1 500m spot. International Canoe Racing Federation rules mean each country can only have one entry per event at the world championships, which are scheduled for Nova Scotia, Canada, in August.
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“How spectacular that we can front two paddlers like that and put on a race like that. Pretty special eh?” Fisher told 1 News.
“She [Carrington] outclassed me today, so kudos to her. She had the legs on her today and she got me,”
1 NEWS
Aimee Fisher drew first blood in the clash between the titans for NZ’s only K1 500m World Championship spot by the slimmest of margins on Lake Karapiro.
Carrington told 1 News of her Saturday defeat: “It is tough to come second… but it was going to happen eventually and Aimee is such an incredible performer”.
The 27-year-old Fisher won the K1 500m title at the world championships in Copenhagen in 2021 after Carrington won three gold medals, in the K1 500m, the K1 200m and the K2 500m at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
With Carrington absent, Fisher beat the Olympic silver and bronze medallists in Denmark.
Aaron Gillions/Photosport
Aimee Fisher toppled five-time Olympic gold medallist Lisa Carrington on Saturday.
Fisher ruled herself out of contention for the Tokyo Olympics following a lengthy stand-off with …….