Blazing paddles: NZ good to go

• Published date: 26 April 2024
• Author: OLYMPICS Michael Burgess
• Publication title: Bay of Plenty Times

Carrington, who was confirmed on Wednesday as the anchor of a six-strong women’s canoe sprint team for Paris, has never believed in boundaries — and isn’t about to start now

“Anything is possible,” Carrington told the Herald, as she watched her excited team-mates getting photos with family and friends on the banks of Lake Pupuke.

“The big thing is for us to keep dreaming, keep being super-creative around what we are doing and not be limited by the games or the medals or the winning. There is more to it. We have to keep thinking there is always more than that.”

Carrington has long ago mastered the mantra of process over outcome but she also delivers results, on an unprecedented scale.

She has six Olympic medals — including a staggering five golds — achieved in London, Rio and Tokyo. As always, the focus will be on the 34-year-old, but there is ability all around her, with young talent in an exciting K4 crew (Carrington, Alicia Hoskin, Olivia Brett and Tara Vaughan), who claimed New Zealand’s first world championship title in the big boat last year in a stunning race.

Carrington’s K2 partnership with Hoskin is developing well — shown by a blistering 1m 36s recorded at the recent Australian nationals, while Aimee Fisher is one of the world’s best solo paddlers. Fisher will also team up with Dunedin’s Lucy Matehaere in a second K2 crew.

The Canoe Racing New Zealand selection was a red letter day — the biggest-ever female kayaking Olympic team — 16 years after Erin Taylor blazed the trail in Beijing. Carrington has been the catalyst, catapulting the sport to a new level.

“I definitely can’t take all the credit but I have obviously been there from a long time ago and they all think I’m much older,” laughed Carrington.

While Carrington won’t be able to seek a fourth consecutive K1...