Kayak Fours, 500 metres, Women

Hungary had dominated this event both at the Olympics and World Championships. They won gold in London and Rio and were unbeaten world champions since 2017. In the past, it was always the battle between Hungary and Germany in the women’s K-4 500, who were the only countries to have won the event at the Olympics since 1988. As Germany were not the power they had been previously, however, Hungary expected challenges from Belarus, Poland, and New Zealand in Tokyo.

As it was the last women’s canoe sprint race in Tokyo, everybody was excited to see if Lisa Carrington could win gold in all the four kayak disciplines. So far, she had won the K-1 200, K-1 500 and K-2 500 titles, for a total of five gold medals in three Games. Danuta Kozák, the stroke of Hungary, however, also had five golds to her name, so it was also a decisive race to see which one of them would win their sixth gold, albeit still behind Birgit Fischer’s all-time record of eight.

Only 12 teams competed and the leading eight reached the A Final without any big surprises. In the final, contested in heavy rain, Hungary shot past early leaders New Zealand, Belarus, and Poland to maintain their hold on an event they had not lost at the Olympics since winning at London 2012, with Kozák remaining from the original quartet. Belarus finished second with Poland third. New Zealand could only finish fourth, so Carrington finished with three medals, all gold, in Tokyo.

The victory of the Hungarian women’s K-4 team gave the 34-year-old Kozák a sixth career gold medal, moving her into outright second on the overall canoe sprint table. It also ended a frustrating week where she had won a bronze in the K-2 500 and missed a medal in the K-1 500.