Kayaking: A final for K2 women

Teneale Hatton and Lisa Carrington. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Teneale Hatton and Lisa Carrington have reserved a special place among the New Zealanders at the world championships in Poznan, Poland.

The women's K2 500m pair are the only New Zealanders so far to qualify for an A final at the event and it is doubly significant because it is an Olympic event.

The duo were second in their semifinal and third quickest qualifiers for the final on Poznan's Lake Malta tonight.

Hatton and Carrington won gold in the K2 1000m at a World Cup regatta in France this year. They are on the pace this week, beaten by less than 1.5sec by the top qualifiers from Russia.

They are coached by former Olympic gold medallist Paul MacDonald, who has been in command of the women's programme.

Olympian Erin Taylor scraped into the K1 500m B final with the 19th fastest time of the semifinalists. She has battled a rib injury for much of this year and is yet to unearth her best form upon return.

The K4 500m crew of Taylor, Hatton, Carrington and Jaimee Lovett also had to settle for the B final after placing seventh in their semifinal in the 11th quickest time.

Three New Zealand crews were involved in B finals last night.

Ben Fouhy finished third in the K1 1000m - placing him 12th in the world - Steven Ferguson and Troy Burbidge were fifth in the K2 1000m (14th overall) while the K4 1000m crew of Michael Walker, Liam O'Loughlin, Frederick Teear and Darryl Fitzgerald were sixth (15th overall).

The results complete a tumultuous year in the sport for Fouhy.

The Athens K1 1000 silver medallist prepared for the event separately from the rest of the team after well-publicised problems with management which is led by Olympic and world gold medallist Ian Ferguson.

Fouhy has been a work-in-progress experiment to see if his independent arrangement is viable for the 2012 London Olympics.

Unfortunately, the 31-year-old suffered tendinitis in his wrist in the latter stages of his campaign but is still likely to be given a shot at trying to qualify the boat for the Olympics.

He could train in the boat only once a day in the lead-up to the current event. The rest of the time was spent cross-training.