By Kris Shannon in Paris 

According to one of the few Kiwi athletes who knows the feeling, it will take time for Alicia Hoskin to realise what she has achieved. 

By teaming with Lisa Carrington to win the K2 500, Hoskin has become the seventh New Zealander to claim two gold medals at one Olympic Games, topping the podium on consecutive days at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. 

Hoskin — also part of the successful K4 crew — is only the second woman to accomplish the glittering feat. The first was sitting a couple of metres ahead as an unstoppable black boat blitzed a strong field to take victory by more than two seconds. 

Carrington, naturally, has done this before, winning three golds in Tokyo before adding at least two more in Paris. But the 24-year-old Hoskin, who recorded a fourth and 14th in her Games debut three years ago, wouldn’t be quite so familiar with the feeling. 

“I’m sure Alicia doesn’t even realise that she’s going to have two gold medals around her neck,” Carrington said before the medal ceremony. “It’s so special to be a part of that with Alicia. 

“The growth and just her desire to want to keep improving, to want to paddle better — there’s no perfect, but there’s always something you can do more. The love of paddling that Alicia has is awesome. 

“So when we’re out there, we’re like, you know what, it’s just us enjoying it. All we’re passionate about is the paddling and doing it together.” 

Carrington, who set a world record in the same boat with the retired Caitlin Regal in Tokyo, joked Hoskin became her teammate because the pair looked so alike. It was clear today, like Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald 40 years before, the pair could operate in perfect harmony. 

Ferguson and MacDonald, along with fellow paddler Alan Thompson, each secured two golds at Los Angeles 1984. The only other Kiwis in the elite club are Danyon Loader (Atlanta 1996) and Peter Snell (Tokyo 1964). 

And now Hoskin, who overcame heart surgery during her junior career to develop into an ideal partner for this country’s greatest Olympian. 

Lisa Carrington and Alicia Hoskin celebrate gold in the K2. Photo / Photosport 

Replacing Regal could have come with tremendous pressure, given the previous success of the K2 and given the identity of the athlete leading the boat. But while Hoskin did acknowledge some pre-race nerves, her comfort with Carrington ensured another majestic result. 

“It didn’t cross my mind too much,” Hoskin said of the shoes she was filling. “There was a lot of pressure, but to have the courage and bravery, and to do it with Lis, lean on each other, lean on the team, I actually felt quite confident going into today. 

“It was scary, it was nerve-racking, but knowing our preparation, trusting each other, there’s no one else I’d rather do it with. 

“I was just super proud of the way that we paddled together because it would have been very easy to get caught up in the moment and the pressure. But to be able to trust each other and stay calm was just a testament to our preparation.” 

That preparation included myriad early mornings on Lake Pupuke on the North Shore, often paddling through adverse conditions while frozen European winters forced their rivals indoors. 

All that rehearsal paid off once the curtain dropped in Paris, Hoskin and Carrington navigating a blustery day to propel themselves ahead in the opening moments, building their lead to 0.65s by halfway and closing stronger than every other boat. 

“The water is super bouncy at the back end, so we were just really putting a lot of trust in our technique and our preparation,” Hoskin said. “It’s definitely not the easiest conditions for any country, but our mindset is we try and use anything to our advantage, so trusting the conditions we have trained on in little Lake Pupuke in the winter chop, we knew that it was going to be a very resilient race. 

“We kept true to what’s the most important thing out there — the way we paddled together. We have done a lot of practise in waves and side winds, tailwinds, so we just put a lot of trust in that preparation.”