Kayak Singles, 200 metres, Women

Lisa Carrington of New Zealand competed as a favorite in the women’s K-1 200, the third of four new 200 metre canoe sprint events at the 2012 Summer Olympics. It had been on the World Championship program since 1994. In 2011 she had become the first New Zealand woman to win a World Championship in canoeing with her victory in this event, but she would certainly have her share of challengers in London. Hungary’s Natasa Douchev-Janics, for example, had 18 World Championship victories, three of which were the K-1 200 titles that came before Carrington’s. Furthermore, Douchev-Janics had taken the 2011 season off for pregnancy and certainly would have challenged Carrington for the crown had she been present, for she returned to the sport with a victory in the event at the 2012 European Championships. Ukrainian Inna Osypenko-Radomska, an Olympic and World Champion in the K-1 500, was also competing in the inaugural K-1 200 and was certain to be a threat, having been runner-up in the event at the 2010 World Championships. With Maria Teresa Portela of Spain, the 2002 and 2005 World Champion, and Nataliya Lobova of Russia, the 2011 European Champion, thrown into the mix, there were many paddlers in the race with the skill to capture a podium spot.

Douchev-Janics and Carrington met up in the qualification heats, with the former edging out the New Zealander by just under two-tenths of a second to claim the fastest time of the round. Carrington had her revenge in the semi-finals, setting a new quickest time in a round where all of the medal prospects survived to compete for gold. In the final it was Carrington who came out of the start fastest, leading the pack by a thin margin throughout the race and finishing a comfortable distance ahead of them to capture Olympic gold. Osypenko, meanwhile, edged out Douchev-Janics by less than eight-hundredths of a second to claim silver, forcing the Hungarian to settle for bronze.