Canadian canoeists Vincent, MacKenzie post Olympic-best time to reach 500m double semifinals

Sprint canoeists Sloan Mackenzie and Katie Vincent started their quest for a medal at the Paris Games in commanding fashion, paddling to an Olympic-best time as they secured a berth in the women's double 500-metre semifinals.

The Canadians spent the first half of their heat in a tight battle with eventual second-place finisher Spain, but put on a burst of speed in the last metres to surge ahead and win the race in a time of one minute 54:16 seconds.

Vincent said she and Mackenzie had come in with a goal of finishing in the top two in order to skip the quarterfinals and better focus on the semifinals and final of the event.

All five Canadian boats who were on the water on Tuesday advanced to their respective 500-metre semifinals during canoe-kayak sprint events at Vaires-sur-Marne nautical stadium.

WATCH l Vincent, MacKenzie advance to 500m semifinals:

The two-person sprint kayak team of Courtney Stott and Natalie Davison went through the quarterfinals to advance, as did both the men's and women's kayak four crews.

Pierre-Luc Poulin and Simon McTavish were the final Canadian boat of the day and secured their own semifinal spot with a third-place result in the men's kayak doubles quarterfinals.

WATCH | Vincent reflects on her career ahead of Paris Games: