New Zealand’s Golden Triumph At The Paris Olympics: Women’s K4 Strikes Gold In A Thrilling Finish

In 2023 they became the first New Zealand K4 to win a world championship. Now, the Women’s K4 boat consisting of Dame Lisa Carrington, Alicia Hoskin, Tara Vaughan, and Olivia Brett are Olympic Champions.

History was made in Paris late on Thursday night as they became the first NZ Women’s K4 to win an Olympic medal in the WK4 500m event.

It was a typically strong start from the kiwis and they led at the halfway mark. The German team surged in the third quarter and got ahead but the New Zealand women powered back through to win the gold medal, finishing in a time of 1.32.20.

Germany took home silver (1:32.62) and Hungary won bronze (1:32.93).

Dame Lisa Carrington, now a 7-time Olympic medallist (6 golds, 1 bronze), said the performance was a testament to the amount of work the whole team had put in. "We've all worked really hard towards this, especially the team behind the team. It's surreal."

"Our plan today was just to stay in our own boat, and we really trusted that today," Alicia Hoskin said after the race.“We are very proud.”

It was a monumental day in many ways for NZ Canoe Racing, as the Men’s K4 also secured their spot in the 500m final, the first time NZ has had both a men’s and women’s K4 in an Olympic final. 
The first women’s K4 competed at an Olympic Games in Rio 2016, but NZ has not had a men’s K4 in a final since 1984.

The men’s crew of Max Brown, Kurtis Imrie, Hamish Legarth and Grant Clancy finished 8th in the final, after gaining their spot in the semi-final earlier in the day.

Canoe Racing New Zealand CEO Graham Oberlin-Brown said seeing both big boats through to their respective finals was a dream result. "The last time New Zealand made a K4 final at an Olympic Games was 40 years ago in Los Angeles, so we have long envisioned the day when the world would see not one, but two kiwi K4 boats competing at the Olympics."

With two days of Canoe Sprint remaining, there is likely to be much more finals racing from the kiwi kayakers. Friday night will see both the men’s and women’s K2 crews hit the water for their semi-final and finals, before Aimee Fisher and Lisa Carrington wrap up New Zealand’s Paris 2024 campaign on Saturday night in the women’s K1 500m event.

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