She is a fantastic ambassador for Nelo Kayaks and Jantex Paddles. We congratulate Lisa on her historic victory! You can see the race here at about 10 minutes in.

The Women's K4 team has also succeeded in meeting the Olympic Standard and will likely be included in the NZ Olympic Team at Rio 2016. They finished in ninth place overall. They're the first NZ Women's K4 team to make the standard and, if confirmed in the Olympic team early next year, the current crew will more than double the number of females to have competed at that level. What an exciting time for NZ Women in sport.

Meanwhile, the men raced with heart but will have to compete at the Oceania Champs for their tickets to Rio. Scott Martlew placed first in the B Final of the K1 Mens 200m KL3 division, making him the tenth fastest on the day. The Men's K2 Team of Zac Franich and Darryl Fitzgerald improved a lot over the course of the competition; they placed seventh in the Mens K2 500m C Final. Marty McDowell was eliminated in the heats of his Men's K1 1000m competition, just missing out on a place in the Semi-finals.

Overall, it was a great week of racing with encouraging improvements by all the NZ Team members. The training schedules for the Oceania Champs will be intense for this group of athletes who looked focussed on their goal – making it to the Olympics in Rio 2016. Hats off to Lisa Carrington yet again, a true hero of our sport.

 

Wednesday’s Racing

Scott Martlew fought hard to come third in a tough semifinal, but unfortunately in the end he was just 0.45 seconds off making the A final. He'll be racing in the B Final of the K1 Mens 200m KL3 on Friday. Hopefully a good finish will restore his confidence in getting a shot at Rio, as he could still take one of the four spots up for grabs at next years the World Champs in Germany.
"I was disappointed with my result today - I just missed out on that A final and I'm frustrated that I miss out on chasing that top-six spot for qualification but I've got a crack at the B final, so hopefully I'll be able to improve my racing before then," he said. 
 

Thursday’s Racing

Lisa Carrington cruised into the finals of the Women's K1 500m, with her semi-final time beating her heat time by 5 seconds. In the other semis, Hungarian Anna Kárász was the quickest qualifier for Saturday's final with a 1:48.113 effort, as Great Britain's Rachel Cawthorn (1:48.750) and China's Yu Zhou (1:48.813) also went quicker than the Kiwi. It will be fascinating to see how quick she can be when pushed.
Meanwhile it was brutal day for the boys, with Marty McDowell missing out on the K1 1000m semi-finals by placing sixth in the fastest heat of the day. His 3:40.005 time would've got him through comfortably in four of the other six heats. 

 

Friday’s Racing

 

Saturday’s Racing

Lisa Carrington blew away the competition in the Women’s K1 500 metre A final, shining in a stellar field of high performance athletes. She looked focused, in full control from the start and steadily pulled away from the competition to lead by half a boat length at half way. Digging deep over the last 100m, Lisa tore away from the competition to finish over a boat length in front of fastest qualifier Anna Kárász of Hungary and Yu Zhou of China. It was a joy to watch the distinctive koru on her custom-painted K1 Nelo Cinco power away! 

"I had an idea I was in the lead but I couldn’t back off it at any stage," a glowing Lisa said. "It was a tough race and I had to be really prepared to give it everything and do what I could because the competition was so strong. I couldn't leave anything up to chance. I'm just really pleased to get the K1 500m done and now I can refocus on the 200m."

Her winning time of 1:49.398 seconds placed her 1.727 seconds clear of rising Hungarian star Anna Kárász, with surprise third in Yu Zhou. The win makes her only the second non-European to win the 500m title, after Canada's Caroline Brunet from 1997-99. You can watch the replay here.

It was fantastic to see Lisa achieving this important milestone: she was clearly chuffed to get her ticket to Rio. But more than that, by convincingly winning the 500m – the distance that is not her strongest – she has the achieved the most ambitious part of her plan to hold both the K1 500m and 200m titles.

She is the clear favourite to win the K1 200m A Final tonight, having qualifying fastest and on a winning streak of three consecutive titles.

"It's all about keeping the challenge and trying to get better and better every year and every day. It's allowed me to become a better paddler and, as I get older, I seem to get fitter and stronger and work on more things." she said. 

The K4 women also did their country proud, finishing third in their Womens K4 500m semi-final to book a place in the A final – and their ticket to Rio.

Great Britain and Germany overhauled the Kiwis in the last 50m, clocking 1min 33.635secs and 1:33.70secs respectively, but the New Zealand crew were only 0.308secs behind.

"I guess there's a pretty high likelihood we'll go to Rio now, which is a bit of a dream come true," a jubilant Fisher said. "It's been a pretty long year and there's been a lot of suffering together. It's been a year of hurting but it's all really paying off now."

Although they have only been training together for nine months, Jaimee Lovett, Caitlin Ryan, Aimee Fisher and Kayla Imrie have now achieved a top-ten world ranking. Footage posted to their Facebook page demonstrates how hard they have been training under coach Rene Olsen, and it shows in their much improved form. We look forward to seeing how far they can push it. Their race is due to start at 21.05 NZ time and will be live streamed here. 

Unfortunately the men did not fare as well, with the K2 team of Zac Franich and Darryl Fitzgerald finishing seventh in their 1000m C final. 

 

Sunday's Racing

Testing conditions in contributed to a shaky start for Lisa. However, her impressive back stoke had her powering through the field to finish almost half a boat length ahead of Poland's Marta Walczykiwicz and Teresa Portela of Spain.

Racing was slower than expected with competitors hampered by choppy water and a side breeze: Lisa's start was shaky and she looked to be struggling at first. Impressive pace by Marta Walczykiwicz of Poland and a strong start from Teresa Portela of Spain saw Lisa coming from behind to lead at the halfway mark, accelerating impressively towards the finish with final time of 40.060 seconds – a convincing 0.640sec and 1.188sec lead over the second and third paddlers respectively.