By Toshiki Hashimoto
TOKYO (Reuters) – Defending champion Lisa Carrington of New Zealand set a new Olympic best to reach the final of the women’s kayak single 200 metres competition at the Sea Forest Waterway, as her opponents also set scorching times on Tuesday.
The 32-year-old, who will go for a third successive gold in the final later on Tuesday to add to her triumphs in London 2012 and Rio 2016, clocked in at 38.127 seconds in her semi-final to better her own Games best of 39.864 seconds.
Six of the eight competitors in the first semi-final, including Carrington, and two in the second all went under the New Zealander’s previous Olympic mark, which was set in Rio 2016.
Germany’s Rio gold medallist Sebastian Brendel and his partner Tim Hecker set a new Olympic best time of three minutes 26.812 seconds to reach the final of the men’s canoe double 1000m event.
They were joined by the Chinese pair, Liu Hao and Zheng Pengfei, who finished in 3:27.023.
Hungary’s Balint Kopasz and Rio silver medallist Josef Dostal of the Czech Republic comfortably qualified for the men’s kayak single 1000m final but face a stern test from Portugal’s Fernando Pimenta who set a new Olympic mark of 3:22.942.
Carrington partnered Caitlin Regal to advance to the kayak double 500m final with a new Games best of 1:36.724.
(Reporting by Toshiki Hashimoto in Tokyo, writing by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
