As Dame Lisa Carrington crushed the field by a boat length to win a ninth-straight K1 200 world title and 15th overall, words started to feel like they might not do her justice.
But Canoe Racing New Zealand high performance manager Nathan Luce found some, which signified just where she's at in her career at 34-years-old.
"If you think of her all-round abilities now, what she can do at the front of a K4, what she does in a single, how she won that race when everyone's trying to qualify boats and everyone's at their very, very best and she dropped the hammer on everyone.
"It's a sight to behold. So I'd say she's pretty much at the peak of her powers and she's not getting any slower," Luce told 1News, taking time out from a team dinner to talk about another Carrington masterclass.
Carrington herself also ducked away from the table to discuss how she continues to defy expectations.
"I've always managed to find a way to get a little bit better and I just enjoy doing that," Carrington said from Duisburg. "The exciting part is you can explore so many aspects of sport to improve, so being in it for as long as I have I've managed to figure where I can keep improving."
It's a frightening statement for her rivals - Carrington also indicating they're seeing elements of her training that are better than they've ever been, both on and off the water.
Which also helps in the K4 quest for gold. The victory by Carrington, Alicia Hoskin, Olivia Brett and Tara Vaughan was New Zealand's first ever K4 world title - women or men - in the fifth-fastest time ever, at the same time qualifying the boat for the Paris Olympics.
"It's right up there, it's amazing to be a part of one of the first and to do it with such an awesome crew of women and they're just growing and learning at such a crazy rate that I love being a part of it," Carrington said, while also pondering what the next generation may be able to achieve when she hands the paddle on.
"I think with what my teammates are picking up now and how they're progressing I really look forward to how it will continue past when I've finished."
That historic result in Duisburg was arguably the regatta highlight for New Zealand - qualifying four quota spots for Paris 2024.
Canoe Racing NZ bosses are preferring to keep their progress under wraps in the build-up to the regatta, but are quietly hopeful.
"We knew in training they were going really well. They pulled out some amazing trial results and we just didn't want to get too excited because we've done that in the past," Luce explained, before revealing he did have an inkling of what was to come.
For Aimee Fisher and Danielle McKenzie, last night's dinner may have been a bit tougher to enjoy. The newly-combined pair - only together for five weeks - fell agonisingly short of earning two qualification quota spots in the K2 500, finishing eighth, out of the all-important qualifying top six by just four hundredths of a second.
"We're all a bit gutted, we went in with pretty measured expectations and we knew that making an A final would be pretty amazing," Luce said. "Then we were like OK they only have to beat three crews and then that's when the pressure mounts a little bit. They just didn't quite have the kick that we thought they might have. But what a valiant effort on their part."
McKenzie, a former surf-ski World Champion, has only been in flatwater canoe sprint since April.
"Danielle's never been to an international regatta before in her whole life and to do three races and almost qualify for the Olympics in her third race is almost unheard of.
"But maybe we were a bit too bold, we took a punt - it almost paid off."
The Olympic dream isn't all over for the duo - they'll race one-on-one against Australia at the Oceania Championships in February to earn the one spot for the region.
For now they all head to Paris for the Olympic test event in Paris this weekend.
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