Canoe Sprint 2020 Tokyo Olympic Review

Men’s C-1 1000m

Isaquias Queiroz (Brazil) showed himself to be in great form in the heats, being the only man to go under four minutes. Sebastian Brendel (Germany) had to go through the quarter-final having not qualified automatically through his heat. It was a slower time in the final, but Queiroz was once again the winner. He was over a second ahead of Liu Hao (China).

🥇Isaquis Queiroz 🇧🇷

🥈Liu Hao 🇨🇳

🥉Serghei Tarnovschi 🇲🇩

Men’s C-2 1000m

It was Hao/Pengfei (China) who set the fastest time in the heats, with Brendel/Hecker (Germany) winning the other. The Chinese team won heat one only for Germany to take the second heat in an Olympic best time. It was a brilliant race in the final. China went out fast but would slowly be clawed back in by Jorgé/Torres (Cuba) who set an Olympic best time, barely edging China with the German boat also behind.

🥇Fernando Jorgé/Serguey Torres 🇨🇺

🥈Liu Hao/Zheng Pengfei 🇨🇳

🥉Sebastian Brendel/Tim Hecker 🇩🇪

Men’s K-1 200m

The Olympic best was set in the opening heat by Peter Menning (Switzerland) only for it to be beaten in the second heat by Kolos Csizmadia (Hungary). Liam Heath (Great Britain) would take the record back in the quarter-finals. Csizmadia went through as quickest in the semi-final with compatriot Sandor Totka (Hungary) winning the other. In the final, it was a brilliant start by Totka. He would hold on despite the fast finishers coming back towards him

🥇Sandor Totka 🇭🇺

🥈Mandredi Rizza 🇮🇹

🥉Liam Heath 🇬🇧

Men’s K-1 1000m

Josef Dostal (Czech Republic) was fastest in the heats, with all of the other favourites, taking wins as expected. In the semi-final, he was beaten by Balint Kopasz (Hungary) before Fernando Pimenta (Portugal) set an impressive Olympic best in the second semi. Kopasz would set a brilliant pace in the final, slowly upping the tempo until he dropped Pimenta. He would set an Olympic best by two seconds. Pimenta, struggled off the intense pace that had been set and faded behind Adam Varga (Hungary), barely holding off Jacob Schopf (Germany).

🥇Balint Kopasz 🇭🇺

🥈Adam Varga 🇭🇺

🥉Fernando Pimenta 🇵🇹

Men’s K-2 1000m

In the opening heat van der Westhuyzen/Green (Australia) set an Olympic best time. They would win their semi but Hoff/Schopf (Germany) set the fastest time. In the final, it would come down to those two, although the time was nowhere near as impressive. Australia would edge their way ahead of the German team. Behind them were Dostal/Slouf (Czech Republic)

🥇Jean van der Westhuyzen/Thomas Green 🇦🇺

🥈Max Hoff/Jakob Schopf 🇩🇪

🥉Josef Dostal/Radek Slouf 🇨🇿

Men’s K-4 500m

Germany won the opening heat in an Olympic best time but that was defeated in the following heat by Spain. Germany would lead the race at halfway and although both Spain and Slovenia would attempt to get back in the race, neither could quite manage it.

🥇Germany 🇩🇪

🥈Spain 🇪🇸

🥉Slovenia 🇸🇮

Women’s C-1 200m

Given the event was making its debut it was an inevitable Olympic best in the opening heat to Liudmyla Luzan (Ukraine) only for Nevin Harrison (United States) to beat it in the second heat. Luzan won the first semi with Harrison taking the second. Harrison would take the win in the final, ahead of Laurence Vincent-Lapointe (Canada) and Luzan.

🥇Nevin Harrison 🇺🇸

🥈Laurence Vincent-Lapointe 🇨🇦

🥉Liudmyla Luzan 🇺🇦

Women’s C-2 500m

Shixiao/Mengya (China) would set an Olympic best in the opening semi-final with Luzan/Chetverikova (Ukraine) winning the other. The big surprise came as Vincent Lapointe/Vincent (Canada) went out in the heats, instead having to win a quarter-final to qualify for the semi. In the final, it was the Chinese pair who went clear, creating a two-second gap ahead of Ukraine, when setting an Olympic best time, ahead of Canada.

🥇Sun Mengya/Xu Shixiao 🇨🇳

🥈Liudmyla Luzan/Anastasiia Chetverikova 🇺🇦

🥉Laurence Vincent-Lapointe/Katie Vincent 🇨🇦

Women’s K-1 200m

Two ladies went under 41 seconds in the heats Teresa Portela (Spain) and Lisa Carrington (New Zealand). Carrington would set an Olympic best in the semi-final of 38.127. The second semi was won by Dora Lucz (Hungary) but the time was not as impressive. Lisa Carrington would go slightly faster in the final with a 38.120 to take the gold medal. Behind her was Portela in 38.833 with Emma Jorgensen (Denmark) just behind in 38.901.

🥇Lisa Carrington 🇳🇿

🥈Teresa Portela 🇪🇸

🥉Emma Jorgensen 🇩🇰

Women’s K-1 500m

In the heats, it was Hermien Peters (Belgium) who went fastest. Tamara Csipes (Hungary) would beat her to take the first semi in the quickest time. The other semi-final winners were Danuta Kozak (Hungary), Linnea Stensils (Sweden) and Lisa Carrington (New Zealand). Lisa Carrington was the favourite heading into the final and would pedal to a 1.51.216. It was enough to take gold ahead of Csipes and Emma Jorgensen (Denmark).

🥇Lisa Carrington 🇳🇿

🥈Tamara Csipes 🇭🇺

🥉Emma Jorgensen 🇩🇰

Women’s K-2 500m

The fastest qualifiers from the heat were Csipes/Medveczky (Hungary) ahead of Khudzenka/Litvinchuk (Belarus). In the first semi, the Hungarian team were beaten by Bodonyi/Kozak (Hungary) the other, favoured Hungary team. However Carrington/Regal would impress more, setting an Olympic best in the second semi. The New Zealand pair would set off fast and at halfway had a 0.69-second advantage over Naja/Pulawska (Poland) with Kozak/Bodonyi 0.01 ahead of Bull/Wood (Australia) in the battle for bronze. The pattern of the race would remain though as New Zealand set an Olympic best to win gold.

🥇Lisa Carrington/Caitlin Regal 🇳🇿

🥈Karolina Naja/Anna Pulawska 🇵🇱

🥉Dora Bodonyi/Danuta Kozak 🇭🇺

Women’s K-4 500m

Both Hungary and Poland went under 1.34 in the heats, with Hungary having a slightly faster time. As many expected it would be Hungary who powered home first. Belarus managed to finish ahead of Poland with New Zealand only fourth.

🥇Hungary 🇭🇺

🥈Belarus 🇧🇾

🥉Poland 🇵🇱