Katie Vincent paddles to C-1 200m gold at Paris 2024

Katie Vincent has won her second medal of Paris 2024, taking gold in the women’s C-1 200m.

In a photo finish, she defeated American Nevin Harrison by just one-one hundredth (0.01) of a second, achieving a World Best time of 44.12 seconds. This is the first ever Olympic gold medal for Canada in a women’s canoe or kayak event.

Coming from behind at the finish, Vincent executed her final shoot just perfectly to get the nose of her boat across the line first. Cuba’s Yarisleidia Cirilo Duboys took bronze in 44.36.

In her Olympic debut, Sophia Jensen placed sixth.

The gold medal for Vincent follows the bronze medal she won alongside Sloan MacKenzie in the women’s C-2 500m. Vincent now has three career Olympic medals, having also won C-2 500m bronze at Tokyo 2020.

Vincent was the world champion in the C-1 200m in 2021, but did not compete in it at last year’s world championships. She had placed eighth in the C-1 200m final in her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020. This past May, Vincent won C-1 200m gold in her only ICF World Cup appearance of the season.

Canada has been represented on the women’s C-1 200m podium at both Olympic Games in which it has been included. Laurence Vincent Lapointe won silver at Tokyo 2020 where women’s canoe events were included for the first time. Vincent’s World Best time erases that of Vincent Lapointe, who had recorded 44.50 seconds back in 2018.