Kayak Singles, 200 metres, Women

Defending Olympic Champion Lisa Carrington of Australia had not lost her World Championship title since first earning it in 2011, making her a strong favorite to defend her crown in Rio. Her biggest competition would be Poland’s Marta Walczykiewicz, who had been runner-up to Carrington at the Worlds for the last four years and was also the 2013 European Champion. The 2012 Olympic runner-up was Inna Osypenko-Radomska, who had competed for Ukraine in London but was a member of the Azerbaijani delegation in Rio. The reigning European Champion was Lasma Liepa, formerly of Latvia but now earning the distinction of being Turkey’s first Olympic canoeist. Also making its Olympic canoeing debut in this event was Palau, courtesy of Marina Toribiong.

Carrington won her preliminary heat, doing so faster than Osypenko-Radomska, but slower than Walczykiewicz and France’s Sarah Guyot, the 2015 European Champion. Walczykiewicz, Osypenko-Radomska, and Carrington went on to win their semifinals, while Guyot came in second behind the Azerbaijani. Liepa, meanwhile, was eliminated. In the final, Carrington had little trouble holding off Walczykiewicz for the gold medal and set an Olympic record of 39.864. Osypenko-Radomska slid in just over a tenth of a second later for bronze, successfully defending against a push from Slovenia’s Špela Ponomarenko Janić, the 2013 Mediterranean Champion.