Canoeing: Carrington fastest to make final

New Zealand canoeist Lisa Carrington. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Olympic gold-medallist Lisa Carrington led from the front as the New Zealand team made three A finals on the first day of the Canoe Sprint World Cup in the Czech Republic overnight.

Carrington was the fastest to make the final in the K1 500, while Teneale Hatton and Rachael Dodwell won their se mifinal in the K2 500 and Ben Fouhy finished second in his K1 1000 semifinal to also earn a final spot.

The three Kiwi crews will race for the medals between 8.30pm and 9pm tonight, before the women turn their attention to the 200m sprint races and Fouhy and Hatton also line up in the 5km endurance event.

The second World Cup kicked off with a sunny day in Racice but, with a steady 18km/h headwind, fast times were not on the agenda. Carrington began the day with a second-place finish in her heat, before winning the fastest semifinal by 0.3 seconds to earn top lane in the final, a meritorious result in what is not her favoured distance.

Shortly after, Hatton and Dodwell started with a relatively poor heat but the pair soon got their act together to also win their semifinal, though the winners of the heats had already advanced directly to the final.

It was still an impressive performance from the newly-formed crew, racing together this season for the first time after Hatton went to the London Olympics in a solo boat.

Fouhy also had the bit between the teeth, lining up and winning his heat in a very controlled manner. He finished behind world record holder Max Hoff of Germany in his semifinal, coming up trumps in the battle for one of three final places available.

Meanwhile, the men's K4 team split into two K2 crews for the regatta, both of whom earned berths in the B final. The crew of Jasper Bats and Darryl Fitzgerald were only short of an A final spot by 1.1 seconds, while Jarrod Fitzgerald and Zac Quickenden will join their compatriots in tonight's B final.