Champion Kiwi paddler Lisa Carrington has guided her team to the K4 500m final at the world canoe sprint championships in Hungary.
Carrington, who clocked the fastest time in K1 200m heats on Thursday (NZT), returned to the water on Friday morning to help teammates Aimee Fisher, Caitlin Ryan and Kayla Imrie progress in the big boat.
The foursome were never headed in the third heat, eventually winning by 2.62s, from France. Their time of 1m 29.00s was the second fastest of the day, almost half a second slower than Bulgaria in heat one.
Winners from each of the three heats advanced directly to the final on Monday morning, with others contesting semi-finals for the remaining six spots.
The same NZ combination claimed silver medals last year, just one-hundredth of a second behind Hungary.
Shooting for her ninth world title, Carrington will next contest K1 500m heats on Friday night and the 200m semis on Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, Ryan and Alicia Hoskin are through to the K2 500m semis, finishing third in their heat with the ninth-fastest time.
Newshub
