Is K4 500m boat at risk of failing to qualify for LA to defend Olympic gold?

Despite currently missing three members of the Olympic champion team, Canoe Racing New Zealand is confident a women’s K4 500m crew will qualify for the LA 2028 Olympics to defend the gold medal.

Of the four paddlers who won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Olivia Brett was the only one to compete at last month’s sprint World Cup season openers.

In April, Dame Lisa Carrington announced her pregnancy but said the 2028 Olympics still remained her goal. She had initially planned to compete at the two regattas in May, but later withdrew on medical advice.

Olympic champions Alicia Hoskin and Tara Vaughan were also not available for last month’s World Cups, which marked the start of the LA 2028 Olympics qualification cycle.

Carrington, who had planned to not compete internationally in 2025, was called up as a late injury replacement for Brett in August at the World Canoe Sprint Champs in Milan. The eight time Olympic champion, along with Hoskin, Vaughan and relative newcomer Lucy Matehaere, finished a pleasing fourth at the event.

Hoskin is recovering from surgery after suffering from a condition that restricted blood flow to her arm. The 26-year-old, who also won Olympic gold with Carrington in the K2, has said she is unsure if she will be able to train to an Olympic level again.

Greer Morley was added to the women’s K4 squad to compete in Europe, while Aimee Fisher stepped in as a late replacement for Carrington in the crew.

In the opening World Cup in Hungary - Brett, Fisher, Matehaere, and Morley finished 12th. A week later the quartet came 9th in the women’s K4 500m at the World Cup in Germany.

Canoe Racing New Zealand chief executive Graham Oberlin-Brown said there were ongoing conversations with Hoskin and Vaughan about whether they would be available later this year and beyond.

“Potentially, we continue to chat with Tara, and different athletes in different phases. We remain engaged with Alicia and continue to work with her around her recovery. It’s not unusual for athletes to be in different phases throughout the Olympic cycle, whether it’s injuries or otherwise.”

With uncertainty around when - or if - Hoskin, Vaughan and Carrington will return, questions remain over whether the women’s K4 can secure Olympic qualification.

However, Oberlin-Brown said the recent results were encouraging given the changes to the crew.

“The positions that the K4 achieved last month with three athletes who weren’t in the Olympic Gold winning K4 - to make the A-final and come ninth was a good achievement and also positions that crew to achieve the Olympic ranking points for the LA Olympics,” Oberlin-Brown said.

“We’ll continue to ensure that we progress towards continuing to achieve the level of points that we need to qualify that boat while also building year on year throughout the cycle to ensure that we are ready for peak performance when we get to LA.”

Oberlin-Brown would not be drawn on whether Fisher, who stepped away from the women’s high performance squad for several years due to concerns over athlete wellbeing, would permanently rejoin the women’s crew boat programme.

“We continue to have conversations with Aimee and within the wider women’s squad around crew selections, their preferences, and availability. Aimee’s an exceptional K1 paddler and we’re really grateful for her stepping in for Lisa Carrington.”

The Olympic qualification will be based on a two-year ranking system across 10 events, rather than the shorter cycle used for Paris.

“It’s a combination of world ranking points, which qualify the boat to earn the four quota spots from a K4 ranking and then there’s also a continental aspect to that so we’re currently in a position where we would qualify that women’s K4 spot. Ultimately I believe there’s eleven K4 spots that are provided for the Olympics,” said Oberlin-Brown.

“Of the five women’s Olympic qualification quota spots we can secure for the Olympics, we’re currently in a position where we would get those five, but continuing to operate at that level is important and the men are building depth and building towards strong peak performances.”

The NZ Canoe Sprint team came home with three medals following the first two ICF World Cup events of the year, including a gold and silver medal for Fisher in the women’s K1 500m. Finn Murphy won a silver medal in the paracanoe.

Later this year, New Zealand will attend a World Cup in Montreal, the World Championships in Poland, and the Oceania Championships in Adelaide. Canoe Racing New Zealand will decide which 2027 events they will send teams to closer to the time.

Oberlin-Brown said he was pleased with the depth building in the men’s programme, which is primarily based in Auckland.

“It’s the strongest it has been for a long time … and there’s another set of four or five guys who operate within our pathway ranks and across the country who are nipping at the heels to join the top boat. And we entered two men’s K2 500m boats at both world cups.”

Quaid Thompson, who typically races in the Men’s K1 5000 and 1000m events, also raced in the K2 500m in the second World Cup in Germany, alongside James Munro.

Whether Thompson joins the crew boat programme remains to be seen.

“We continue to have conversations with all athletes, obviously that was the first international crew boat competition that Quaid’s competed in for some time so we continue to have those conversations within the men’s squad and the athletes within the pathway.”

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