Olympics-Canoe sprint-German Brendel set for quarter-final after struggling in heats

The New Zealanders finished in 1:33.959, behind the Hungarian team, in their heat. Carrington became New Zealand's most successful Olympian https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/canoe-sprint-hungarys-csizmadia-briton-heath-ease-into-final-2021-08-05 by grabbing gold in the women's kayak single 500m on Thursday to take her overall Games medals tally to six.

German Sebastian Brendel's quest for a third successive Olympic gold medal in men's canoe single 1000 metres got off to a wobbly start as he failed to secure direct entry into the semi-finals from his heat at the Sea Forest Waterway on Friday.

Brendel, who took gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016, led the way but struggled in warm temperatures to finish third in his heat, behind Czech Republic's Martin Fuksa and Hungary's Balazs Adolf, in a time of four minutes, 02.351 seconds. The 33-year-old will now look to reach Saturday's semi-finals via the quarter-finals later in the day.

Rio silver medallist Isaquias Queiroz dos Santos of Brazil set the pace with a blistering time of 3:59.894 in his heat. There were five heats in total with the top two from each going through to the semi-finals directly.

New Zealand's Lisa Carrington stayed on course to become the first athlete to win four canoe sprint medals at a single Games as she made the women's kayak four 500m semi-finals with team mates Alicia Hoskin, Caitlin Regal and Teneale Hatton. The New Zealanders finished in 1:33.959, behind the Hungarian team, in their heat.

Carrington became New Zealand's most successful Olympian https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/canoe-sprint-hungarys-csizmadia-briton-heath-ease-into-final-2021-08-05 by grabbing gold in the women's kayak single 500m on Thursday to take her overall Games medals tally to six. She had won the kayak single 200m on Tuesday before partnering Regal to take the kayak double 500m title.

The Spanish quartet of Saul Craviotto, Marcus Walz, Carlos Arevalo and Rodrigo Germade set an Olympic best time of 1:21.658 to charge into the semi-finals of men's kayak four 500m after the German team briefly held the mark. The Chinese pair of Xu Shixiao and Sun Mengya laid down a marker in the women's canoe double 500m heats, by crossing the line in 1:57.870 to put themselves in contention for a first Games gold medal in the event.

Women's canoe racing made its debut at the Tokyo Games and American 19-year-old Nevin Harrison captured gold in the single 200m event on Thursday.

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