Within hours of being crowned Hawke's Bay Sportsperson of the Year, kayaker Aimee Fisher was in World Cup medal-collecting mode at the weekend.
Fisher, 21, and the rest of the Rio Olympics-bound K4 crew, Jaimee Lovett, Caitlin Ryan and Kayla Imrie, won bronze in the non-Olympic 200m event at the first World Cup regatta of the season in Duisburg, Germany.
Earlier in the day they finished fifth in the final of the 500m event they will tackle in Rio.
Their time of 1m33.801s was 1.032s off a podium spot. Ukraine won in 1m32.046s, ahead of world champions Belarus and third-placed Poland.
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Advertise with NZME.Belarus pipped Ukraine in the 200m event. Fisher and co will aim to continue their improvement as they build towards Rio in the second World Cup regatta in the Czech Republic this weekend.
New Zealand world and Olympic champion champion Lisa Carrington added K1 500m silver overnight to the gold she won in the K1 200m a day earlier. Carrington's showdown with the previous two Olympic 500m champions didn't disappoint, with Hungary's Danuta Kozk - who won gold in London in 2012 - showing incredible power to win in 1min 47.071secs. The New Zealander was 1.125secs behind, with 2008 Olympic champion Inna Osipenko-Rodomska (Azerbaijan) third, a further 0.072secs back after leading.
"I'm racing the best paddlers in the world and the quality is extremely high - it's such a great opportunity to be able to race and practice against these girls here," Carrington said.
"I stuck to my race plan and did what I needed to do and what I could do. "
Kozk, 29, spent much of last year paddling in crew boats, helping Hungary win world championship gold in the K2 and silver in the K4 in Milan. She is likely to compete in all three 500m events in Rio, in K1, K2 and K4. Carrington will get another chance to test herself at the third World Cup of the season in Portugal and, with fellow Kiwi Marty McDowell, will head back to Berlin to train for the next 10 days.
