The women's K-1 500 metres sprint canoeing event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 4 and 5 August 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway. At least 13 canoeists from at least 13 nations competed.

Background This was the 19th appearance of the event, the only event to have appeared every Summer Games since the introduction of women's canoeing in 1948.

The reigning World Champion (who also won the 2015 World Championship and the bronze medal at the 2016 Games) is Lisa Carrington of New Zealand, who earned a place for her NOC and has been selected to compete.NZOC The reigning Olympic champion is Danuta Kozák of Hungary, who finished third at the World Championships to earn Hungary a quota place.

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could qualify one place in the event, though could enter up to 2 boats if it earned enough quota places through other women's kayak events. A total of 13 qualification places were available, initially allocated as follows:

1 place for the host nation, provided it qualified no other women's kayak places 5 places awarded through the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships 6 places awarded through continental tournaments, 1 per continent except 2 places for Europe 1 place awarded through the 2021 Canoe Sprint World Cup Stage 2.

Qualifying places were awarded to the NOC, not to the individual canoeist who earned the place.

Japan earned a women's kayak place in the K-1 200 metres, so that quota place was added to the World Championships (making 6). Carrington's and Khudzenka's quota places went through the reallocation process because they also qualified in K-4 boats. That process resulted in an additional place in K-1 500 metres, which went to Simon. The World Championships quota places were allocated as follows:Canoe Sprint Quota Allocation

Rank Kayaker Nation Qualification Selected competitor 1Lisa Carrington Earned quota in K-4 500 m 2Volha Khudzenka Earned quota in K-4 500 m 3Danuta Kozák Quota #1 in K-1 500 m 4Milica Starović Quota #2 in K-1 500 m 5Emma Jørgensen Quota #3 in K-1 500 m 6Linnea Stensils Quota #4 in K-1 500 m 7Rebeka Simon Reallocated quota place

Continental and World Cup places:

Nation Qualification Selected competitors Africa quota in K-1 500 m Americas quota in K-1 500 m Asia quota in K-1 500 m Europe quota #1 in K-1 500 m Teresa Portela Europe quota #2 in K-1 500 m Oceania quota in K-1 500 m World Cup quota in K-1 500 m

Nations with women's kayak quota spots from the K-1 200 metres, K-2 500 metres, or K-4 500 metres could enter (additional) boats as well.

Nation Selected competitor 1 Selected competitor 2 Lisa Carrington (K-4) Caitlin Regal (K-4)

Competition format Sprint canoeing uses a four-round format for events with at least 11 boats, with heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. The specifics of the progression format depend on the number of boats ultimately entered.

The course is a flatwater course 9 metres wide. The name of the event describes the particular format within sprint canoeing. The "K" format means a kayak, with the canoeist sitting, using a double-bladed paddle to paddle, and steering with a foot-operated rudder (as opposed to a canoe, with a kneeling canoeist, single-bladed paddle, and no rudder). The "1" is the number of canoeists in each boat. The "500 metres" is the distance of each race.

Schedule The event was held over two consecutive days, with two rounds per day. All sessions started at 9:30 a.m. local time, though there are multiple events with races in each session.

+Sprint Event↓/Date → Mon 2 Tue 3 Wed 4 Thu 5 Fri 6 Sat 7 Women's K-1 500 m H ¼ ½ F

Results Heats The first three canoers from each heat advance to the semifinals. The remaining competitors compete in the quarterfinals.

Heat 1 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes13Hermien Peters1:47.95922Teresa Portela1:48.72731Jule Hake1:48.75844Isabel Contreras1:49.25655Milica Novaković1:49.80266Yin Mengdie1:52.76077Emily Lewis1:55.743

Heat 2 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes11Anja Osterman1:49.40223Justyna Iskrzycka1:49.89335Volha Khudzenka1:50.73244Brenda Rojas1:54.54157Yuliia Yuriichuk1:57.53266Francesca Genzo1:59.71272Natalya Sergeyeva2:01.374

Heat 3 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes 1 5 Linnea Stensils 1:48.144 2 2 Alyce Wood 1:48.572 3 1 Caitlin Regal 1:50.297 4 7 Špela Ponomarenko Janić 1:50.498 5 4 Svetlana Chernigovskaya 1:52.311 6 3 Manon Hostens 1:53.668 7 6 Amira Kheris 2:13.626

Heat 4 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes14Danuta Kozák1:48.73025Emma Jørgensen1:49.23137Alyssa Bull1:49.41642Michelle Russell1:51.08153Deborah Kerr1:51.37561Ana Roxana Lehaci1:55.06776Samaa Ahmed2:13.007

Heat 5 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes12Tamara Csipes1:48.79026Maryna Litvinchuk1:49.60631Marta Walczykiewicz1:50.18444Mariya Povkh1:50.48955Anamaria Govorčinović1:52.01567Huang Jieyi1:52.38573Lize Broekx1:52.476

Heat 6 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes14Lisa Carrington1:48.46322Sabrina Hering-Pradler1:49.93233Viktoria Schwarz1:51.75046Kira Stepanova1:55.18055Joana Vasconcelos1:57.51361Anne Cairns2:03.667

Quarterfinals Progression: 1st-3rd to SF, rest out.

Quarterfinal 1 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes14Isabel Contreras1:51.235SF 2 3 Manon Hostens 1:54.095 SF35Yuliia Yuriichuk1:58.657SF46Anne Cairns2:02.52557Samaa Ahmed2:06.033

Quarterfinal 2 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes15Svetlana Chernigovskaya1:49.323SF27Lize Broekx1:49.336SF34Brenda Rojas1:51.822SF42Emily Lewis1:51.99656Ana Roxana Lehaci1:53.37863Joana Vasconcelos1:56.622

Quarterfinal 3 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes16Yin Mengdie 1:49.268SF24Špela Ponomarenko Janić1:49.680SF33Deborah Kerr1:50.133SF45Kira Stepanova1:52.19052Huang Jieyi1:52.68967Natalya Sergeyeva1:55.776

Quarterfinal 4 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes13Milica Novaković1:49.348SF25Mariya Povkh1:50.769SF34Michelle Russell1:51.375SF46Anamaria Govorčinović1:53.96752Francesca Genzo2:01.74467Amira Kheris2:07.548

Semifinals Progression System: 1st-2nd to Final A, 3rd-4th to Final B, 5th-6th to Final C, rest out.

Semifinal 1 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes14Tamara Csipes1:51.698FA26Hermien Peters1:52.829FA35Caitlin Regal1:53.495FB43Justyna Iskrzycka1:53.899FB57Lize Broekx1:54.489FC62Isabel Contreras1:54.535FC71Deborah Kerr1:55.955

Semifinal 2 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes14Danuta Kozák1:52.016FA23Teresa Portela1:52.557FA36Volha Khudzenka1:52.755FB41Mariya Povkh1:53.659FB55Maryna Litvinchuk1:56.386FC62Viktoria Schwarz1:56.475FC77Yin Mengdie1:56.97788Yuliia Yuriichuk2:03.303

Semifinal 3 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes14Linnea Stensils1:51.902FA23Emma Jørgensen1:52.931FA36Marta Walczykiewicz1:53.860FB45Sabrina Hering-Pradler1:54.140FB52Jule Hake1:54.341FC61Špela Ponomarenko Janić1:54.710FC78Michelle Russell1:55.54987Svetlana Chernigovskaya1:56.066

Semifinal 4 RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes15Lisa Carrington1:51.680FA23Alyce Wood1:53.079FA32Milica Novaković1:53.149FB46Alyssa Bull1:54.038FB54Anja Osterman1:54.235FC67Manon Hostens1:57.394FC71Brenda Rojas1:58.301

Finals

Final A RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes3Lisa Carrington1:51.2165Tamara Csipes1:51.8551Emma Jørgensen1:52.77346Danuta Kozák1:53.41454Linnea Stensils1:53.60062Hermien Peters1:53.71677Teresa Portela1:55.81488Alyce Wood1:57.251

Final B RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes95Caitlin Regal1:53.681101Sabrina Hering-Pradler1:53.919112Justyna Iskrzycka1:54.086123Milica Novaković1:54.458134Marta Walczykiewicz1:55.659146Volha Khudzenka1:55.933157Mariya Povkh1:56.429168Alyssa Bull1:56.799

Final C RankLaneCanoerCountryTimeNotes173Anja Osterman1:55.051184Jule Hake1:55.638192Isabel Contreras1:55.728201Špela Ponomarenko Janić1:56.066215Lize Broekx1:56.842226Maryna Litvinchuk1:57.057238Manon Hostens1:58.133247Viktoria Schwarz1:59.475

References