TROUBLE FOR LISA IN THE K1 500m

However, an old foe has returned to complicate Lisa Carrington's hopes of double Olympic gold, despite more World Cup kayaking success overnight. Carrington's vice-like grip on the K1 200m distance continued, with her 12th-consecutive major title in the event in Germany, crushing the final field which also included fellow Kiwi Aimee Fisher.

But she didn't have things all her own way on the Duisburg course, with Hungarian Danuta Kozák edging Carrington in the semifinals of the K1 500m later in the day.

Kozák is a double world champion at the distance, beating Carrington in both 2012 and 2013, but opted to race in team boats for much of last season.  She helped Hungary win world championship gold in the K2 and silver in the K4 in Milan last year, while Carrington created history by winning the 200m-500m K1 double. 

Kozák showed she's still a force in the individual ranks, however, clocking 1min 47.792secs in the semi-final overnight, edging Carrington by 0.748secs as both paddlers qualified for tonight's final with the fastest two times of the day.

Carrington is racing both distances in Rio, with the World Cup rounds an ideal chance to fine-tune preparation.

"The fields are super strong now and it's always good to race these girls," she said. "It's really good practice, going through the nerves and the process of racing."

MARTY McDOWELL

"I didn't race the semi-final too well - it probably wasn't a smart race based on how I was feeling - but I changed the way I raced quite a lot in the C final and it made a pretty big difference," McDowell said. "I was still struggling a wee bit in the last part of the race but hopefully the next week and a half will be a good little training block and I can freshen up into Portugal.  I'm expecting to go a lot better there and fingers crossed, everything goes to plan."

AIMEE FISHER

Fisher was eighth in the final, recording her second personal best in as many days with a 40.560sec time and impressing New Zealand women's coach Rene Olsen.

"Aimee has had two greats day in the K1 - today she had the chance to race in one of the strongest fields assembled over the last few years and she showed she was not far behind, which is a great sign for the future," Olsen said.

NZ WOMEN'S K4

Fisher re-joined Jaimee Lovett, Caitlin Ryan and Kayla Imrie to finish third in their K4 500m heat and qualified directly for the final.

Coach Rene Olsen reserved special praise for Lovett at the front of the boat, who helped the New Zealand boat off to a flier, before world champions Belarus and France came surging past.

"We've been working a lot all summer - in the gym, the pool and on the lake - at being really fast off the line and it was really reassuring today to see us beat the world champions off the line and hold them off for the first 50m of the race," Olsen said.  "Now we've shown we've got the speed to be up there with the best boats in the world, we can concentrate on the rest of our plan towards Rio."

Lisa Carrington on Day Two: Image Credit: Balint Vekassy (ICF)