Kayaking: Focused Carrington as hungry as ever

Lisa Carrington expects to continue to progress her 500m form, the distance at which she has less experience. Photo / Ben Fraser

Olympic champion over 200m is aiming to improve her form in 500m distance.

The desire burns strongly within Lisa Carrington as the champion paddler embarks on another European campaign this weekend.

Then again, at 25 and with the kayak world her oyster it would surprise if there was even a hint of ho hum, or "enough".

She is part of a seven-strong New Zealand team with world cups and later world championships in their sights, the latter of which doubles as this year's Rio Olympics qualifier.

There's a K4 women's quartet of Jaimee Lovett, Caitlin Ryan, Aimee Fisher and Kayla Imrie and two men in single seaters, Marty McDowell in the 1000m, and Scott Bicknell in the 200m sprint discipline, the event in which Carrington has been the dominant woman for the past four years.

The Olympic champion from London, and winner of the last three 200m world finals, Carrington is chasing two events in London. The K1 500m is her second suit and with bronze and silver world champs medals in that distance in the past two years the signs are encouraging.

Carrington has done plenty of work over summer preparing for Europe. With each season, it is a case of hanging onto what works and discarding aspects which don't.

"As I get older, the longer I train for years on years, that buildup means my fitness gets better each year," she said.

"So I've been able to work harder and do more quality training. But we're just keeping it simple, trying to make small changes in technique and taking small steps to get better. We've just kept ticking on what has worked in the past."

The "we" is Carrington and coach Gordon Walker, who is also overseeing McDowell this season.

The pair have trained together and will spend a week in Munich next week ahead of the opening cup event in Portugal.

So what's an average week for Carrington?

Try 10 or 11 sessions on the water, three workouts in the gym, plus pilates.

Now she has her BA, majoring in politics and Maori studies, her focus will switch fully to her sport.

She sees learning as an important component in this year's campaign.

"It's good to know I still get a buzz out of going away to race the best in the world. If I started to get a bit 'oh, I've got to pack my bags again' that wouldn't be a good sign," she laughed.

And Carrington "absolutely" relishes being tested.

She expects to continue to progress her 500m form, the distance at which she has less experience.

On the occasions she is beaten into a minor medal, Carrington thinks glass half full - "it's a really good opportunity to work on your positivity ..., lift your head back up, okay what can I do next time.

"I got third last year in the 500m [at the worlds] which was a really good learning. I took a lot away from that. To know winning is hard to come by makes it more special."

What lies ahead:

• New Zealand paddlers will attend three World Cup events on successive weekends - Montemore-o-Velho, Portugal on May 15-17, Duisberg, Germany on May 22-24, and Copenhagen on May 29-31.

• The world championships are in Milan starting on August 19, at which Olympic qualifying places are on offer for Rio next year.