Caitlin Ryan has teamed up with double Olympic champion Lisa Carrington to make a statement on the opening day of the world kayak championships in the Czech Republic.
Ryan and Carrington have beaten the highly rated German pair of Franziska Weber and Tina Dietze to win their K2 500 heat and advance directly through to tomorrow night's final.
Carrington also got her K1 500m title defence off to a solid start, also making Saturday's A final - she was second in her K1 500m heat in 1:54.789, 0.450 behind Serbia's Milica Starovic.
The Halberg Supreme Award winner was then second in the fastest afternoon semifinal in 1:53.742 behind Volha Khudzenka (Belarus), who clocked 1:52.015. The top three from each semifinal went through.
