Kayaking: Lisa Carrington and Caitlin Ryan in form at world canoeing championships

Lisa Carrington (left) and Caitlin Ryan in action. Photo / Dezso Vekassy

Hotshot New Zealand paddlers Lisa Carrington and Caitlin Ryan have advanced straight into the A final of their K2 500m discipline at the world canoeing championships in Portugal.

The pair, defending their title from last year, clocked 1min 39.262s in winning their heat, the first one, in the fastest time.

And the race was notable for one aspect, the second placed crew, Hungary's Danuta Kozak and Anna Karasz.

Kozak, multiple world and Olympic champion, won her fifth Olympic title in the K1 500m at Rio two years ago, when Carrington finished third.

The Hungarians recorded 1:40.347 in the heat, to be second fastest and will race the final in lane three, two along from the New Zealanders.

Earlier Carrington was sixth fastest in the K1 500m.

She had won her heat in 1:53.239 but when the dust had settled she had progressed to the semifinals but five paddlers had bagged faster times.

Sween's Linnea Stensils was second behind Carrington in 1:54.169. Belarusian Volha Khudzenka, another defending champion from the Czech Republic last year, was fastest into the semifinal in 1:51.994, fractionally quicker than the formidable Kozak.

Quaid Thompson, the sole able bodied male in the New Zealand team, finished seventh in his heat of the 1000m in 3:38.455. He was in the second half of the field for the duration of the race.