Kiwi kayak queen Lisa Carrington powered her way to back-to-back Olympic gold medals and New Zealand's third at the Rio Games early this morning (NZ time). The defending Olympic K1 200m champion completed the splash and dash in 39.864 seconds, beating out Poland's Marta Walczykiewicz and London silver medallist Inna Osipenko-Rodomska of Azerbaijan, who won bronze, at Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon. Related Content Rio Olympics 2016: Caster Semenya has every right to compete, say experts Rio Olympics 2016: Olympic spirit shines through tragedy for Kiwi runner Rio Olympics 2016: Medals still to come for New ZealandIt would be "hard to come down" but she was ready to get back into "heats and semis tomorrow". Carrington, 27, who moved into kayaking from a surf lifesaving background, shot to prominence in the sport in 2011 when she won the world championship K1 200m crown in Szeged, Hungary. It will be the first time she has contested the longer distance at Olympic level in K1.

Source: New Zealand Herald August 16, 2016 12:50 UTC