Kayaking: Lisa Carrington beats rival Aimee Fisher to level up their gripping kayak duel

Lisa Carrington congratulates Aimee Fisher on winning the K1 500m final during the NZ Canoe Sprint Championships yesterday. Photo / Photosport.co.nz

Dame Lisa Carrington has hit back in the battle against Aimee Fisher for the New Zealand K1 500m seat at this year's World Championships.

The two paddlers are locked in a tense battle in their bid to represent the country at the event in Nova Scotia, Canada, in August, as International Canoe Racing Federation rules allow each country to have just one entry per event.

The selection process sees the two paddlers in a best-of-three race-off, with Fisher getting the advantage before Carrington levelled the score on Sunday.

After going down in their first race during the national championships on Saturday, Carrington beat Fisher by just 0.11 seconds on Lake Karapiro in their second K1 500m race to send it to a decider, which is scheduled for Thursday. The second race was held outside of the national schedule, as Fisher had already locked away the national title with her win on Saturday.

Fisher, whose victory on Saturday saw her successfully defend her national championship title, went on to be crowned world champion for the first time last year, while Carrington holds two world championship titles in the discipline (2015 and 2019).

Regardless of whether she earns the 500m spot, Carrington is set to attend the world championships in the K1 200m, her favoured discipline, after cruising to the national title on Sunday.

After winning her heat by 2.72 seconds on Saturday to directly advance to the final, Carrington further impressed in the final by knocking more than 3sec off her heat time (43.92sec), winning the final with a time of 40.77sec.

Carrington took the title ahead of Alicia Hoskin (43.46sec) and Teneale Hatton (43.53sec).
Carrington holds seven world championship titles in the shorter discipline, as well as three Olympic gold medals.