Hawke's Bay's Sportsperson of the Year Aimee Fisher has won gold and bronze medals at the weekend's World Cup 2 kayaking regatta in the Czech Republic.
Last night Fisher, Jaimee Lovett, Caitlin Ryan and Kayla Imrie won bronze in their K4 500m final in Racice. Germany won gold and theUkrainian team silver, with the Kiwis finishing 1.7secs behind the Germans.
Earlier they had finished second in their heat to qualify directly for the final. The Kiwi quartet were 1.866secs behind the strong Ukranian team which had won gold at the previous week's World Cup 1 event in Germany.
This regatta was the K4 crew's last major outing before Rio. They've opted to miss this week's World Cup 3 in Portugal where Lisa Carrington and Marty McDowell will be new Zealand's sole representatives.
Earlier in the regatta Fisher and Lovett captured gold in the non-Olympic K2 200m final. They made a fast start and pulled away to win in a slick time of 37.835secs. They were comfortably clear of China's Wenjun Ren and Qing Ma. Argentina's Sabrina Ines Ameghino and Maria Magdelena Garro were third.
It has been a memorable two weekends for Fisher. On the weekend the 21-year-old Karamu High School product was crowned Hawke's Bay Sportsperson of the Year she showed the world she has to be the top-ranked under-23 K1 200m paddler globally, after beating Denmark's Emma Jorgenson.
In Carrington's absence, K1 200m rivals Inna Osypenko Radomska (Azerbaijan) and reigning European champion Sarah Guyot (France) fought out Saturday night's final, with Guyot winning in 39.92secs.
