Lisa Carrington will have an intense workload at the Tokyo Olympics with the double Olympic champion spearheading the women's canoe sprint team by competing in four events.
Carrington has been named alongside Caitlin Regal (nee Ryan), Teneale Hatton and Olympic debutant Alicia Hoskin as New Zealand’s female canoe sprinters after a tough selection process which wrapped up last month with the K4 trials on Lake Pupuke.
The four will all feature in the women's K4 500m in Tokyo while Carrington will team up with Regal for the K2 500m - the same combo that won the event at the 2017 World Championships. Hatton and Hoskin will also compete in the K2 500m in a second boat.
Carrington will also seek to become the first New Zealand athlete in history to win three successive Olympic gold medals in the same event after earning selection in the K1 200m and has also been selected in the K1 500m - the discipline where she won bronze at the 2016 Rio Games but is currently World Champion in.
"To compete at a third Olympic Games for New Zealand is something I've been working towards for a long time,” Carrington said.
"When I started out in the sport I never had high expectations of what I could achieve but after competing at the London 2012 Olympics, it showed me what was possible and my belief has grown over time.
"To be selected in the same squad as athletes I train alongside every day fills me with pride - because I know how incredibly hard they all work. With every Olympic cycle the sport in New Zealand is becoming stronger and stronger.
"To compete in four events is a real privilege, but it isn't something we've just dreamt up overnight. This is something we've been working towards since 2017 and to earn selection and be a step closer to the Tokyo Olympics is incredibly exciting."
Regal, who set a world best time for the K1 500m in 2018, will also compete in the K1 500m.
Kayla Imrie has been selected as a reserve in the women's K4 500m in the event of injury or non-availability of any of the selected quartet.
NZ women's canoe sprint team
Lisa Carrington - K4 500m, K2 500m [w/ Regal], K1 500m, K1 200m
Caitlin Regal - K4 500m, K2 500m [w/ Carrington], K1 500m
Teneale Hatton - K4 500m, K2 500m [w/ Hoskin]
Alicia Hoskin - K4 500m, K2 500m [w/ Hatton]
Kayla Imrie - K4 500m reserve
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