Kiwi Aimee Fisher has snatched her second victory over teammate Dame Lisa Carrington in as many weeks, pipping the reigning Olympic champion over 500 metres at Poznan, Poland.
As she did at Szeged, Hungary, two weeks ago, reigning Olympic champion Carrington started the faster of the two, but Fisher nosed ahead through the middle stages to win by 0.05s in 1m 54.04s.
Fisher clocked a world record 1m 46.19s at Szeged.
"I was so nervous this morning," she said. "I woke up and felt like I could not do this, it’s too big, but I just went through the day one step at a time, through the warm-up, through the semi final.
"That was a tight race. We were on the start line for a very long time and I just had to be patient.
"I just really wanted to be courageous in the first 250. You saw in Szeged that I got quite far behind, so for me today, it was a real call to be bold and roll the dice a little, and it bloody hurt in the last 200.
"I could feel it was close, I could hear people shouting. Wow, what a contest."
Fisher and Dame Lisa are next due to meet at the Paris Olympics, as part of a powerful NZ kayak team. Carrington captured gold over K1 500m and K2 500m at Tokyo 2020, but missed the world championships soon after, where Fisher won the K1 500m title.
"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," she said.
“For me, it was that calm, peace and trusting, and I just imagined my family and my people shouting for me at home, praying for me and covering me. Just try to surrender to that.
“It's good to come out here and get the win, but you know what, 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."
