Canada's Andreanne Langlois competes in the women's kayak single 200 meter quarterfinals during the 2020 Summer Olympics.Kirsty Wigglesworth/The Associated Press
It was a good first day on the water for Canada’s canoe/kayak team at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday as three of five boats qualified for the semi-finals at the Sea Forest Waterway.
Quebec’s Andreanne Langlois and Nova Scotia’s Michelle Russell both advanced to the next round of the women’s 200-metre kayak single semi-finals, a race they consider “secondary” for them.
“The priority was the K4 500-metre. The K1 200-metre is a bit of a treat for us,” said Langlois, a 28-year-old from Lac-Beauport, Que. “It was a nice surprise today. We trained for this race, but not more than that.”
“Everything is just extra right now,” said Russell of Fall River, N.S.
“We haven’t raced for a long time, so I thought, might as well put in the experience.”
Langlois won her quarter-final in 41.728 seconds, while Russell finished second in hers in 42.940 in a tight race where four kayaks crossed the finish line almost simultaneously.
“I’m glad to be on the right side of the photo finish,” Russell said. “I had no idea where I was for the whole race. When we crossed the line, [Britain’s] Emily Lewis right next to me, we’re looking at each other and didn’t know what was going on.
“I had a feeling that I was in the first group crossing the line. We have a board where they put the order of the boats crossing the line. We saw Britain, and then we kept on waiting and waiting. When my my name came out, I don’t want to swear, but I went ‘Bleep yeah!’”
Michelle Russell of Canada in action during the women's kayak single 200 meter heat at the Tokyo Olympics.YARA NARDI/Reuters
Langlois led the first portion of her qualifying heat after a great start, but at too fast a pace to maintain over 200 metres, and ended up fifth.
“I was too excited,” she said. “I’m a bit like that: I’m a sprinter at heart and I just have to turn the switch to ‘on’ and I’m off. I’ve learned in the last few years to control myself, that’s what I did in the quarter-final,” said Langlois, who finished 16th in Rio.
The two athletes were especially happy to have knocked off any rust due to not competing since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I compare it to taking off a bandage. The first race, you’re a little nervous, uncertain. My stress level was high,” Langlois said.
“It feels good. It showed me what to work on. It was a like a dress rehearsal for my quarterfinal.”
Russell also admitted to being nervous going into the first heat, which included two-time Olympic champion Lisa Carrington of New Zealand.
“I had the double Olympic champion right beside me. That was a good wake-up call,” she said. “I was happy to have improved from the heat to the quarters.”
Ontario’s Roland Varga and Nova Scotia’s Connor Fitzpatrick also advanced to the semi-finals of the men’s 1,000-metre canoe double. The duo finished third in their quarterfinal with a time of 3:50.768.
Ontarians Simon McTavish, Alanna Bray-Lougheed and Madeline Schmidt all failed to qualify.
McTavish finished fourth in the 1000-metre kayak singles, below the cutoff to qualify.
Bray-Lougheed and Schmidt failed to progress in the 500-metre kayak double after finishing fifth.
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