Canoeing: Carrington settles for bronze

Lisa Carrington of New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand's best paddler Lisa Carrington had to settle for bronze in the first of her two finals at the world canoeing championships in Duisburg, Germany today.

Carrington had been aiming for a double gold in the K1 500m and 200m after winning two of the three K1 500m World Cup titles this year and all three of the sprint titles in the discipline in which she won Olympic gold in London last year.

However in a tough final, Carrington crossed third in the 500m final in 1min 58.619s, behind Hungary's Danuta Kozak, who won in 1:57.395, and Germany's Katrin Wagner-Augustin, who recorded 1:58.300.

Wagner-Augustin had led at the 250m mark from Kozak with Carrington third.
Slovenian Spela Pnomonarenko Janic was fourth, .452s behind the New Zealander.

Earlier Carrington had qualified fastest for the 200m final later tonight.

The Bay of Plenty athlete clocked 40.040s in winning the first of three semifinals from Russian Elena Polyakova (40.902) and Portugal's Joana Vasconcelos (40.991).

Over the three races, 10 paddlers recorded times in the 40s suggesting a tight final ahead. Ponomarenko Janic was second quickest just .089s slower than Carrington.

It was a disappointing day for K2 500m women Teneale Hatton and Rachel Dodwell, who finished ninth in their final.

They recorded 1:52.878, 5s behind German winners Franziska Weber and Tina Dietze, who won in 1:47.070. The flipside is making the A final is a sign of encouragement with the Rio Olympics in 2016 the long target.