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The discipline in which New Zealand sports legend Lisa Carrington won two gold medals at the Olympics has been controversial for the 2024 event in Paris.
But Canoe Racing New Zealand CEO Tom Ashley has asked the International Canoe Federation to reverse its decision to remove the K1 200 in a letter signed by 20 national organizations and many of the sport’s top competitors, including Carrington.
The International Olympic Committee announced on Tuesday, following an ICF recommendation, that two extreme canoe slalom disciplines would replace the men’s and women’s K1 200 at the Paris Games in 2024, a decision that has major consequences for one of the Olympic heroes. from New Zealand.
Tom Pennington / Getty Images
Lisa Carrington has had her favorite K1 200m event off the schedule for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In other changes, the men’s K2 1000 and C2 1000 will become 500-meter events.
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“We are really disappointed,” Ashley said. “We first learned that this could be happening about 10 days ago and we have been trying furiously to work with some other nations who share our surprise and disappointment to see if we could get the ICF to review their decision-making process.
“But they have been quite determined to move on and that was ratified by the IOC this morning.
“The 200 meters were included in the Olympic program recently and they have been there for a couple of cycles and now they are available again, and it makes it quite difficult for organizations to plan and for athletes to train and prepare.”
Carrington will target a three mob at next year’s Tokyo Olympics, which was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, after taking gold in London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Tom Pennington / Getty Images
Lisa Carrington, center, won a gold medal in the K1 200 at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
She’ll be 35 when Paris 2024 rolls around, but Carrington was the youngest of the three medalists in both 2012 and 2016 and Ashley said she would have supported her to get on the podium again in a possible swan song at the 2024 Olympics, if she I would have wanted it. to compete in the shorter sprint discipline.
“I’m absolutely sure that if she wanted to do that, she would be extremely competitive,” Ashley said. “She keeps getting better every week and every year that she has continued training. I’m sure that wouldn’t be a problem at all, but obviously there are other factors as well. “
The confirmation of the elimination of the 470 men’s and women’s sailing events, as well as the Finnish men’s class, is also likely to affect New Zealand’s medal chances.
Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie were gold medalists in the women’s 470 in 2012, while Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox will be strong contenders in the men’s 470 next year.
Although Ashley was disappointed by the elimination of the K1 200, she said the decision would not be “fatal” to Canoe Sport NZ’s overall medal prospects, with multiple contenders in the longest speed disciplines.
Carrington herself is the reigning K1 500 world champion and won a bronze medal in 2016.
“We are all disappointed that it seems to go this way. Lisa leaves an incredible legacy in the K1 200 but, on the other hand, she is not fatal to our prospects in any way, “he said. “We have an incredible number of athletes training for the 500-meter distance on the women’s team.”
