Olympic champion Carrington unphased by step up in distance at Canoe Sprint World Cup season opener

Olympic champion Lisa Carrington won gold at the first ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup event of the season ©Getty Images

Olympic champion Lisa Carrington of New Zealand got her International Canoe Federation (ICF) Canoe Sprint World Cup campaign off to the best possible start as she claimed a dominant win in the women’s 500 metres K1 event in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal.

Carrington, winner of the gold gold medal in the K1 200m race at London 2012, powered to victory in a time of 1min 48.016sec, finishing ahead of Hungarian duo Anna Kárász and Krisztina Fazekas-Zur.

Portugal’s Fernando Pimenta sent the vociferous home crowd into raptures by winning the K1 1000m race in 3:25.156.

Murray Stewart of Australia came through to take silver, 01.092 seconds off the pace, while Spaniard Francisco Sanchez was third.

Elsewhere, Olympic bronze medallist Mark Oldershaw of Canada ensured he topped the podium in the C1 1000m race as he posted a time of 3:45.440, proving too quick for Poland’s Vincent Slominski, who managed to claim silver.

Frenchman Mathieu Goubel took bronze while it was a disappointing day for Hungary’s multiple world champion Attila Vajda, who could only finish fourth.

Afonso Ayala of Spain sprinted to an impressive victory in the C1 200m race as his time of 38.424 was enough for him to take the title, just ahead of home favourite Helder Silva, who received rapturous applause as he crossed the line in second, while China’s Qiang Li was third.

Hungary did finally manage to win gold thanks to the duo of Sándor Totka and Peter Molinar, who reigned supreme in the K2 200m event.

Olympic bronze medallist Mark Oldershaw of Canada took gold in the C1 1000m event ©Getty Images

They powered to victory by virtue of an impressive time of 31.168, while French pair Sebastien Jouve and Maxime Beaumount took silver and Spain’s Carlos Arevalo and Cristian Toro rounded off the podium by finishing third.

It was to be the first of two Hungarian golds as Kárász followed up her individual silver by winning the K2 500m race alongside teammate Ninetta Vad thanks to a time of 01:40.108.

Ana Lehaci and Viktoria Scwarz claimed Austria’s sole title by beating Marta Walczykiewicz and Edyta Kierkla to gold in the women’s K2 200m, while Yue Li and Jieyji Huang won China’s second bronze of the day.

The men’s K2 1000m race was won by Australian pair Kenny Wallace and Lachlan Tame in 03:08.388, and Canada’s Laurence Vincent-Lapointe and Katie Vincent took home the last gold medal of the day in the C2 200m as they clocked 44.468.