TOKYO — Lisa Carrington stood on a windy podium to accept her latest Olympic gold medal for a kayak sprint race she has dominated for more than a decade.
But any celebrations would have to wait. The New Zealander still had another one to win about an hour later.
Carrington opened her medal march at the Tokyo Games with a pair of victories Tuesday, first in the single 200 and then the double 500 with teammate Caitlin Regal, on the opening day of kayak and canoe sprint medal events.
Carrington came to Tokyo as a medal favorite in four events, and the 32-year-old Kiwi made the first two look even easier than expected.
She got to open with the 200, an event she has owned at the Olympics and the world championships since 2012, and made a breeze of what could have been a physically and mentally punishing day in the heat, wind and choppy waves. Carrington had to race four times Tuesday in the semifinals and finals of both events.
“It was about the psychology, the mental approach. To do those four races today, it was a big ask,” Carrington said.
Her third consecutive Olympic gold medal in the 200 began with a bolt out of the start. She built a lead of half a boat length barely 50 meters into the race and cruised from there to beat Teresa Portela of Spain by 0.76 seconds. Portela’s silver medal at the age of 39 was her first medal in six Olympics.
“She is one of the greatest. She showed us this today,” bronze medalist of Emma Aastrand Jorgensen said of Carrington. “I hope she will retire soon so we can be there as well, but I will keep fighting.”
Carrington and Regal were just as dominant in the 500, the last race of the day, and beat the silver-medal boat of Poland by nearly a full second. Carrington is scheduled race the 500 single and fours later this week.
