The Kiwi's success came out on top after the International Canoe Federation (ICF) asked people to vote on social media.

More than 20,000 votes were cast over a month with 40 world champions from eight ICF disciplines proposed.

It was 28-year-old Carrington who topped the pile, however, after her world success in Račice in the Czech Republic in August.

She defeated Emma Jørgensen of Denmark who won silver while Serbia's Milica Starović and Slovenia's Špela Ponomarenko Janić shared bronze.

As well as her five world titles in a row, Carrington has also won back-to-back Olympic golds in the K1 200m.

Her popularity was highlighted in the poll as her second gold medal in Račice, won with Caitlin Ryan in the K2 500m, was voted as the fourth best moment.

In second spot was Hungary's female K4 crew, which defended their 500m sprint world title.

Britain's Liam Heath was third after he added the men's K1 200m world crowd to his Rio 2016 Olympic gold.

Sprint athletes filled six of the top 10 moments on the list.

South Africa's Hank McGregor was the highest ranked athlete from another discipline, finishing seventh for his K1 marathon canoeing world title.