Lisa Carrington, huit fois championne olympique néo-zélandaise, a annoncé qu'elle attendait son premier enfant..

Carrington took to social media to confirm that the baby is due in late September while also underlining her competitive aspirations for this year and beyond.

The 36-year-old ruled out participating in this year’s International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint World Championships, taking place in Poznan, Poland in late August.

But Carrington confirmed that she planned to race at next month’s ICF Canoe Sprint World Cups in Szeged, Hungary and Brandenburg, Allemagne.

The two events count towards the Olympic Ranking as Carrington expressed her desire to compete at Los Angeles 2028.

“This is some of the greatest news I’ve ever shared…Bucky (Michael Buck) and I are expected,” said Carrington in a post on social media.

“We are so ready for this next chapter and couldn’t be more excited to begin our journey into parenthood.”

Carrington said LA28 was “still the goal” but insisted that “right now my focus is on navigating this pregnancy”.

“Pregnancy so far has been a real learning curve – but feeling very lucky and very excited for what’s to come,” said Carrington.

Carrington made history at Paris 2024, courtesy of her hat-trick of gold medals. The legendary kayaker’s success took her eight Olympic titles, equalling the record of Germany’s Birgit Fischer, which had stood for 20 années.

The K4 500m title in France was New Zealand’s first, ending a 40-year domination by Germany and Hungary in the event at the Games.

Carrington had planned to miss international competition last year but returned to feature at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan, Italy where she replaced the injured Olivia Brett.