Canoeing-Carrington grabs another gold as New Zealand win kayak double race

PARIS :New Zealand paddler Lisa Carrington's gold rush continued at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on Friday when she secured a seventh Olympic gold medal and her second of the Paris Games, winning the women's 500m kayak double race with Alicia Hoskin. 

Hungarians Tamara Csipes and Alida Dora Gazso took second place and after a lengthy review their second boat, crewed by Noemie Pupp and Sara Fojt, was awarded a bronze medal in a tie for third place with Germans Paulina Paszek and Jule Marie Hake. 

The Chinese pair of Xu Shixiao and Sun Mengya powered to victory in the women's canoe double 500m final, setting an Olympic record of 1:52.81 and breaking the mark of 1:53.73 that they had set earlier in the day. 

Ukraine's Liudmyla Luzan and Anastasiia Rybachok came in second to take silver, with Canada's Sloan Mackenzie and Katie Vincent finishing third. 

With a tailwind providing some of the choppiest waters seen at the Nautical Stadium, Xu and Sun got off to an excellent start but the Canadians kept the pressure on them before fading over the final stretch. 

The finals of the 500m kayak double for women and men and the men's single canoe 1,000m race also take place on Friday. 

Earlier in the morning, Hungary's Balint Kopasz and Adam Varga sensationally failed to make the men's kayak double (K2) 500m final, coming fifth in their semi-final to miss the decider. 

The Hungarians were sitting pretty for much of the race but a late sprint by the American pairing of Jonas Ecker and Aaron Small saw them snatch the fourth and last qualification spot for the final by 0.15 seconds.