New Zealand kayakers picked up an expected gold and a surprise silver on the second day of the first World Cup of the season in Portugal overnight.
New Zealand kayaker Lisa Carrington Photo: PHOTOSPORT
While Lisa Carrington needed every bit of her Olympic and world championship experience to hold off a Hungarian charge in the K1 500m final, rising stars Caitlin Ryan and Aimee Fisher turned a good morning into a great one by winning silver in the K2 500m.
It's the first time the New Zealand champions have raced together internationally and they're focused more on their K4 boat with Kayla Imrie and Jaimee Lovett, but their performance has opened up Olympic prospects.
Carrington, meanwhile, had to overcome a slow start to beat Kárász and another Hungarian Krisztina Fazekas-Zur, clocking 1 minute 48.01 seconds to win gold, with the top-three all finishing within a second of each other.
Marty McDowell was the other New Zealander action in finals, knocking nearly 15 seconds off his semi-final time to finish seventh in the K1 1000m.
McDowell backed that up later in the K1 500m, finishing third in his heat behind former Olympic champion Adam Van Koeverden (Canada) and France's Cyrille Carre, with the top-three going straight to the A final.
Scott Bicknell will contest the B final of the K1 200m, meanwhile, after drawing a wide lane and being buffeted by the strong crosswinds in his semifinal.
