Carrington into K1 500m final

GOLDEN GIRL: Lisa Carrington has qualified for the A final of the K1 500m at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER A-170213SP2

Lisa Carrington has paddled two strong races in the K1 500m to comfortably win her heat and semifinal at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships.

Conditions were ideal for racing at the world champs in Germany yesterday with a slight tail wind and warm water.

Olympic Gold medallist Carrington finished her semifinal in a time of 1min 54.3sec, 1.4 seconds ahead of South African Brigitte Hartley.

High performance manager Grant Restall said Carrington was shaping up well for the A final.

"It's going to be an epic battle in the final and, if I was a betting man, I'd say the biggest battle will be between Lisa and Katrin Wagner-Augustin of Germany," he said.

"These two have been neck and neck since the world cups last year, and through the Olympics in the 200m, and it looks to continue into the 500m."

He said the 500m distance was a new event for Carrington and she was adapting exceptionally well.

"Lisa is extremely excited about the final and looking forward to the challenge."

Carrington races in the K1 500m final tomorrow morning at 1.56am.

She was also scheduled to race in the heats of her favoured event, the K1 200m, early this morning.

The other two Kiwi women racing yesterday - Teneale Hatton and Rachael Dodwell - were equally excited about making it into their A final.

Hatton and Dodwell finished third in the K2 500m semifinal in a time of 1min 45.8sec, which was two seconds behind the winning German crew and just 0.4 seconds behind the Austrians.

Ben Fouhy, who has been struggling with recovery from bronchitis which hospitalised him during training two weeks ago, finished at the back of the pack in his heat and semifinal races.