The starting gates dropped. Csipes shot out first, Carrington next to her. The sun was blazing, and after giving paddlers a cool push down the course earlier in the week, the wind had dropped to almost nothing. At the 250 mark, it was Csipes / Carrington / Jorgensen / Wang / Gazso / Fisher. Aimee Fisher came to Paris to hit 1:45 and get her first Olympic medal – but 1.95 seconds behind Csipes at halfway meant she’d have to fight hard to pull it off. She put the power on and jumped to fourth. At the front, Lisa Carrington ramped up. She passed Tamara Csipes, and kept going. Stroke after stroke of poetically perfect technique and immense power. Csipes stayed strong but couldn’t quite keep pace with Carrington. Fisher made a massive push at the finish, desperate for that medal, but Emma Jorgensen had the bronze locked up.

Lisa Carrington finished in 1:47.36, a full second ahead of Tamara Csipes and a new Olympic Best time. Carrington’s 8 Gold medals ties her with the legendary Birgit Fischer for most golden Olympic sprint paddler. Fischer’s last Olympics was in 2004, before the rise of Carrington, and her first was in 1980 representing East Germany. She ended her career with 12 Olympic medals including 8 gold, which could have been even higher if the Soviet bloc hadn’t boycotted the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Fischer won her final Olympic medals at age 42. With that in mind, the 35 year old Carrington has plenty of time left in her career to exceed Fischer’s total in LA 2028 and perhaps even beyond – solidifying her reputation as the sprint kayak GOAT.

Tamara Csipes had her best Olympics yet, finishing with a medal in K1, K2, and K4. Including Tokyo and Rio, she now has six Olympic medals and has solidified her place as the post-Kozak/Janic/Kovacs era cornerstone of Hungarian women’s kayak. Her K2 partner Alida Dora Gazso looks like she’s leading the next generation of Hungarian women’s kayak – at age 24, Gazso has just won her first Olympic medals in K2 and K4, and finished 6th in the world in K1. Keep an eye out for her…

Emma Aastrand Jorgensen raced in top form, and reminded everyone to never count her out for a place on the podium. This was Jorgensen’s fourth Olympic medal, all in K1, and makes her the most decorated Danish woman in Olympic history.

A new generation rising?

The women’s K1 500m podium in Paris may have ended up identical to Tokyo, but the rest of the field in the A Final could mark a generational shift. Aimee Fisher and Alida Dora Gazso are ones to watch, especially coming from nations with such robust women’s kayak programmes and legacies. In fifth place was Nan Wang from China, who finished just one second behind Aimee Fisher. China’s focus on canoeing paid clear dividends in Paris as they swept both men’s and women’s C2 gold medals. But China has had a hard time breaking into a medal winning position in kayaking. Wang is just starting out in her career at age 23, and could be another one to watch over the coming years.