Lisa Carrington – Olympic Best Time

CANOE RACING NEW ZEALAND INC.

Lisa Carrington – Olympic Best Time

10 August 2012

Lisa Carrington set the K1 200m Olympic best time in canoe sprint today in her semi final race in a time of 40.528 which makes her the fastest qualifier going into the final tomorrow.

As reigning World Champion Lisa was expected to perform well and she certainly didn’t disappoint. She drew a tough heat coming up against Hungarian four-time Olympic medallist Natasa Douchev- Janics who she faced off against in the recent ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup. Natasa also holds 22 World Championship medals – 18 of them gold. Coming up against Natasa was always going to be an epic battle.

The heat, as expected, saw them neck in neck by the final few seconds of the race and Natasa just pipped Lisa by 0.18 seconds, Natasa taking the race in 41.221, followed by Lisa in 41.401 and Natalia Lobova from Russia in 42.447.

The first semi final showed an explosive performance from Lisa. After a textbook start she had pulled ahead by half way and stormed through in first in an Olympic best time of 40.528 with Spaniard Teresa Portela Rivas in second. Nastasa Douchev-Janics in the third heat had a slow start but quickly picked up her pace to win in 40.570.

Coach Gordon Walker says “We’re really happy with the way Lisa performed today and comfortable that everything is on track for tomorrow’s final. Lisa is just excited to race tomorrow – that’s what she came here for.”

High Performance Manager Grant Restall adds “The atmosphere here is tremendous… the crowd is really vocal and quite a spectacle. The support Lisa is receiving is overwhelming.” With four of the qualifiers finishing under 41 seconds the final tomorrow (10.14am UKT , 9.14pm NZT) is a must-see and all of New Zealand will be on the edge of their seats for this one!

WEBSITE: www.canoeracing.org.nz

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/canoeracing

CANOE SPRINT RACING TIMETABLE

Date Race Athletes UK Time NZ Time Progressions SKY coverage from (NZ time)

Sat 11

August

Womens K1 200m Final Lisa Carrington 10.14am 9.14pm A final 8.25pm

SkySport 7

© Scoop Media