It could be another golden day for New Zealand in Tokyo, with Carrington chasing her third and fourth Olympic gold medals this afternoon.
Carrington won the K1 200m semifinal race with ease at 12.30pm (NZ time), leading from start to finish and posting a time of 38.127sec to smash the previous record by 1.7 seconds.
Yesterday, she blitzed the field in her K1 200m heat before linking with Caitlin Regal for a second triumph in the K2 500m, advancing straight to the semis in both events.
The New Zealand pair’s time of 1min 43.836sec was the third-fastest among the four heats, trailing Hungary and Belarus, but the Kiwis gave the impression they had left plenty in the tank.
The K1 200m final is at 2.30pm. The K2 500m semifinal is at 1.23pm and the final is at 3.40pm.
Carrington, who is competing in four disciplines this week, could leave Tokyo as New Zealand’s most successful Olympian, needing two medals to match the five won by paddlers Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald and equestrian Sir Mark Todd.
Hopes New Zealand could celebrate a fifth gold medal at Tokyo yesterday were scuppered by low winds on the sailing course.
Master yachtsmen Blair Tuke and Peter Burling lead the men’s 49er class with just the medal race to go, but it was postponed until today.
Queenstown weightlifter Laurel Hubbard last night created history as the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the Olympics.
