Aimee Fisher has beaten Dame Lisa Carrington in the K1500 twice this years in the lead-up to Paris. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
New Zealand canoe sprint paddler Aimee Fisher has one major ambition - an Olympic gold medal.
If she achieves it she will have to defeat the woman she most admired while coming up through the junior ranks and the country's most successful Olympian.
Dame Lisa Carrington won the K1 500 at the Tokyo Olympics, however, Fisher has beaten her at the distance twice this year including at the last regatta before the Olympics, in Poland in late May.
The 29-year-old also reminded the world of her class when she won the K1 500 world title just months after she decided to sit out the Tokyo Olympics because she was concerned about athlete welfare concerns.
Fisher told the International Canoe Federation at the time she enjoyed the match-ups against Carrington, but knew the bar would be lifted to another level in Paris.
"We have raced so many times now that it comes down to centimetres so you have to just treat every stroke with respect because you know she is going to be right there," Fisher said.
"When the Olympics come around it will be winner takes all. From now, I need to reset as I have a lot of work to do and I am going to be working hard every single day."
All going well, at 11pm on 10 August the two women will square off with a possible gold-silver quinella for New Zealand on the line.
Lisa Carrington, left and Aimee Fisher embrace after the Women's K1 500m Canoe Word Championship Qualification Race 3 at Lake Karapiro in Waikato in April 2022. Photo: Photosport
Background
Born: 24 January 1995 in Rotorua and raised in Hastings
Most influential person in her life: Her dad who always took her to training
Hobbies: waka ama, coaching, cycling
Olympic events: Canoe Sprint - Women's K1-500m, Women's K2-500m
Achievements
- Won K1500 title at Copenhangen in 2021
- Won the U23 K1 200m and 500m at World Championships in 2017
- Combined Canoe Sprint Athlete of the Year with Lisa Carrington 2017
Fisher first represented her country as a teenager but her breakthrough year came in 2015, when she joined with Jaimee Lovett, Caitlin Ryan and Kayla Imrie in the K4.
Fisher will join Olympic debutant Lucy Matehaere who is from Dunedin in the Women's K2 in Paris.
It is the first time New Zealand has ever qualified and named six female canoe sprint athletes for an Olympic Games.
The Olympic canoe sprint events begin in Paris on 6 August and run until 10 August at the new architecturally designed Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, the first water complex of its kind in Europe.
Photo: Photosport