'Race of the century' on the cards for Aimee Fisher in Paris

With just 88 days until the final of the K1 500 at the Olympics, a piece of New Zealand sporting history is shaping up to become reality.

"I think it's going to be one of the races of the century," new world record holder Aimee Fisher told 1News of the potential for a Kiwi 1-2 finish in the Olympic final in Paris in July.

Fisher and Dame Lisa Carrington have written another chapter in what's fast become one of kayaking's great rivalries, with Fisher beating the 15-time world champion and five-time Olympic gold medallist in a thrilling race at the World Cup meet in Szeged, Hungary.

"It was epic," Fisher said emphatically. "We pushed each other to new heights and I would say it's going to happen again in Poland (the next World Cup) in two weeks' time and it's going to happen again at the Olympics and it could go either way," she said.

"It's going to be incredible."

Carrington flew off the start line and, by the midway stage of the race, had a lead of more than a boat length.

"I had a really aggressive first half for me," Fisher said of the start. "In the past I have been really conservative so that was a big step up. I didn't feel afraid and I went all-in, but she's just a lot faster than me in that first part."

She only saw replays of the race for the first time a few minutes before talking to 1News. The gap between them through 250 metres shocked her.

"Genuinely I didn't realise I was that far behind, I was so in my own race," she said.

"I had a plan and with 200 metres to go, I knew I was going to win. Looking at the replay you'd think I have no right to think that or believe that, but I just felt strong and I just knew – one stroke at a time, centimetre, by centimetre, by centimetre.

''It was a time trial but we certainly got the best out of each other."

Fisher's time of 1:46:19 beat the previous mark held by Belarusian Volha Khudzenka by 0.27 of a second. Carrington was a fraction outside it.

"I have been dreaming of doing that for a long time," Fisher said of breaking the record.

"I remember last year I was speaking to the paddle company I use and I told them I was going to go under 1:45 one day and they looked at me like I was crazy.

"I went back and saw them yesterday and they were like, 'fair enough'. I still want to go 1:45 – that's my dream. There's something about that number that I think it's possible for a female to go that quick."

But she knows it's just the start in the grand scheme of things, with much bigger goals now looming closer than ever.

"It's just the beginning of this chapter. I think it's incredible for the confidence and the belief but there are no guarantees," she said.

"We race again in two weeks, and we'll have another head-to-head and on the other side of that we'll have another training block and every day, it's going to be trying to perform with excellence in whatever I do."

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