Canoe sprint Queen Lisa Carrington has her sixth Olympic gold medal as part of the women's K4 crew in Paris.
With Carrington in the bow seat, the New Zealand boat, with Alicia Hoskin, Olivia Brett and Tara Vaughan, completed some unfinished business from Tokyo, paddling to the gold in a thrilling K4 500m final at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on Thursday.
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Making a fast start, New Zealand just led Germany by the tip of the boat at the 250m mark but the Germans put their nose in front soon after.
However, the Kiwis surged with an impressive final 150m to move ahead and hold on to win by 0.42 seconds in a time of 1 minute 32.20 seconds.
"You have to have four girls doing the same thing at the same time in the same team. It's hard work and it doesn't just come together by itself. We really put in the work," said Carrington, describing the victory as "incredible".
It was the first time the women's K4 was won by a crew not from Hungary or Germany, and an improvement from the boat that finished fourth in Tokyo three years ago.
The team explained that even though it looked as if they were responding to the Germans in the closing stages, that was their strategy.
"Our plan is not dying. We want to be strong over the last part. And we executed that strategy really well today," said Hoskin.
Carrington extended her record as New Zealand's most decorated Olympian, now with six gold medals and one bronze from four Olympics. She has two more chances for medals in Paris in the women's K1 500m (against teammate Aimee Fisher) and women's K2 500m (with Hoskin).
The NZ Team now has 12 medals in Paris, with four gold, six silver and two bronze, after sailors Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson collected bronze in the mixed multihull class earlier on Day 13.
The New Zealand quartet of Max Brown, Kurtis Imrie, Hamish Legarth and Grant Clancy finished a distant eighth of eight starters in the men's K4 500m final.
Having to compete in the men's K2 500m (Imrie and Legarth) and men's C2 500m (Brown and Clancy) to be able to fill a K4 berth may have taken its toll.
The Kiwis were slow off the line and never challenged, finishing 2.39 seconds behind gold medallists Germany in 1:22.19.
Earlier, canoe novices Brown and Clancy finished fifth of five boats in the men's C2 500m final, 47.24 seconds off the pace.
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