Two impressive races for Carrington

Lisa Carrington wasted no time today in stamping her authority on the women’s K1 sprint field.

The New Zealand paddler, the defending Olympic champion, had a heat and semi-final today.

In her heat she was an easy winner in 40.422s. A short time later she was if anything even more convincing in her semi-final, winning in 39.561s. The winners of the other two semi-finals were timed at 39.803s and 40.619s, so Carrington has a nice psychological edge going into tomorrow’s final.

It is remarkable how the 27-year-old New Zealander is able to dominate even such a short event. She blasts out from the start and moves inexorably ahead. Around the kayak venue she is being spoken of in the same terms as Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, the champion New Zealand rowing pair, were last week.

The other New Zealand paddler in action today was Marty McDowell in the men’s K1 1000, but he found the going too tough in his heat and finished well back in seventh in 3min 39.588s, about six seconds behind the winner.

Carrington seemed relieved after her semi-final.

“It’s good to get that day out of the way,” she said. “That performance allows me to have confidence in my preparation and performance.”

Her coach, Gordon Walker, felt the conditions were rather challenging, with motor boats creating some rough water. But he was pleased with how Carrington had paddled.

“The main thing is to make sure you’re in the final,” Walker said. “Then you start again.”

He said Carrington had made a great start in her semi-final.

“Lisa makes it look easy out there, but she was going pretty hard.

“The times were fast. Lisa doesn’t often go under 40 seconds and she did today.”

He tipped veteran Azerbaijan paddler Inna Osipenko-Rodomska as the one to beat in the final.