Canada’s Laurence Vincent-Lapointe and Katie Vincent took the bronze medal in the Olympic debut of the women’s 500-metre double canoe sprint in Tokyo on Saturday.
The duo started strong and shot ahead of the rest of the pack, but found themselves in fifth place at the halfway mark and had to claw their way back to third place.
China won the gold medal after quickly surging to the lead ahead of the Canadians and staying out front until the end. Ukraine captured silver.
The bronze marks the second medal won by Vincent-Lapointe at these Games. She captured silver in the women’s 200-metre single canoe sprint earlier this week.
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The Tokyo Games mark the first Olympics where women have competed in the canoe sprint events. Prior to this year, women were relegated to the kayak portion of the competition.
Vincent-Lapointe and Vincent were among the most vocal athletes behind the push to include women in the sport.
The win gives Canada 23 medals at the Tokyo Olympics, its second-most ever in a non-boycotted Summer Games.
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