Vincent and MacKenzie relish in journey of back-to-back bronzes for Team Canada
For the second straight Olympic Games, Canada has taken bronze in the women’s C-2 500m in canoe/kayak sprint.
Katie Vincent, 28-years-old from Mississauga, Ontario, stood on the podium in both of those Games, while her partner Sloan MacKenzie, 22-years-old and originally from Halifax, has won her first Olympic medal in her first Games.
“I have no words,” said MacKenzie. “It’s really exciting. I couldn’t be more proud of how far we have come.”
After winning their heat in the semifinal with a time of 1 minute 55.34 seconds, the pair improved on that time by nearly a second in the final, racing to a mark of 1:54.36.
Canada trailed the Chinese boat that went on to to win gold for the majority of the race. At the midway point, they were in second, 0.63 seconds back of the leader, while Poland held the third place position.
China would go on to finish first by about a boat length, while a late chase from the Ukrainian boat resulted in a photo finish for silver. Ukraine would finish ahead of Canada by 0.06 seconds.
The results in this year’s C-2 500m – China gold, Ukraine silver, and Canada bronze – are the exact same from Tokyo 2020. Xu Shixiao and Sun Mengya for China and Liudmyla Luzan and Anastasiia Rybachok for Ukraine were also on the podium three years ago, while Vincent’s first bronze was won alongside now-retired Laurence Vincent Lapointe.
“You don’t see much. This crowd is electric and so loud, so you are just consumed by everything, and you just cross the line and you’re like, ‘What happened?’,” said Vincent following the race. “To see third come up, we are very proud of that.”
Mackenzie and Vincent made their international debut together in 2022. At that year’s world championships, they placed sixth in the C-2 500m. The pair soon became a consistent medal contender. They won bronze together at the 2023 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships to qualify an Olympic spot for Canada in the event for Paris 2024. They followed it up by winning gold at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, and silver at the first ICF World Cup of 2024.
“The only difference is Sloan,” Vincent said on changing partners from Tokyo. “We started a new journey two years ago. We came sixth in the world championships and now we are on the Olympic podium. We are really excited.”
They announced their presence during their first heat in Paris, racing to a time of 1:54.16, setting a new Olympic Best time.
China’s Xu and Sun were able to best that time in the semifinal round, and then again with their gold medal-winning race.
For Vincent, who has been representing Canada on the senior international stage since 2015, the moment is extra special.
“Seven or eight years ago, when (we) started on that journey towards Tokyo […] That was a big part of our purpose as a team,” Vincent said. “We wanted to really set the bar high […] raise it to a level that was really competitive and really world class.”
“So to not just be my first Olympics but to come back to my second Games now and be back on the podium, I think that’s a testament to our leadership as a country […] how we fought for this, our quality, and how Canada’s values we present that in our sport.”
Vincent will have the chance to add to her medal collection in the women’s C-1 200m. She has qualified for the semifinal, as has teammate Sophia Jensen, which will begin Saturday at 5:40 a.m. ET / 11:40 a.m. local.
