Olympic gold medalist Nevin Harrison returned from a post-Tokyo break to win her second consecutive world sprint canoe title.
Harrison, a 20-year-old from Seattle, won the C-1 200m sprint in 49.87 seconds, prevailing by a significant .66 of a second over Spain’s Maria Corbera at Lake Banook, Nova Scotia.
Harrison said it was her first time racing internationally since Tokyo, where she became the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic canoe or kayak title.
“After the Olympics, I kind of crashed,” said Harrison, the lone American to win a canoe or kayak medal at worlds (or the Tokyo Games). “Shaken up [racing at worlds], nervous for sure. I didn’t train as hard this year.”
In Tokyo, Harrison became the second-youngest woman to win an Olympic title in the sport after legendary German Birgit Fischer-Schmidt, whom some consider the greatest female Olympian in history across all sports with 12 medals and eight golds.
At her last worlds in 2019, Harrison became the first American to earn a world championships medal in a sprint canoe event (Greg Barton won world titles in sprint kayak). She did not compete at last September’s worlds, which took place less than two months after the Olympics.
She picked up canoe after hip dysplasia forced her to stop sprinting on the track in 2016.
Also at worlds, New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington swept the individual sprint kayak 200m and 500m. Carrington, 33, has won the 200m at every Olympics and worlds in which she has competed dating to 2011. She has won a 500m medal at every Olympics and worlds she has competed dating to 2013. The 200m comes off the Olympic program in 2024, so her focus will be on the 500m for Paris.
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