(Vaires-Sur-Marne) Canadian canoeists Katie Vincent and Sloan MacKenzie won their semi-final in the women’s 500-metre tandem event on Friday morning, meaning they will be in contention for a medal.
Vincent, of Mississauga, Ont., and MacKenzie, of Windsor Junction, N.S., covered the distance in one minute and 55.34 seconds.
The representatives of the maple leaf quickly built up a lead before the Moldovans Daniela Cociu and Maria Olarasu briefly took control of the race, which was very close.
Vincent and MacKenzie set an Olympic record for the distance on Tuesday, finishing in 1:54.16, a time that was lowered to 1:53.73 by China’s Shixiao Xu and Mengya Sun earlier in the day in the semifinals.
Three other Canadian boats failed in their quest for a medal on Friday and will instead have to settle for the ranking races later today.
Ontario kayakers Courtney Stott and Natalie Davison finished eighth in the 500m tandem semifinal in 1:42.57, while their compatriots Pierre-Luc Poulin and Simon McTavish finished sixth in the same discipline on the men’s side in 1:29.01.
For his part, canoeist Connor Fitzpatrick of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, finished eighth in the men’s 1,000m semi-final in 3:56.31.