Canada’s Vincent Lapointe, Vincent to race in 1st-ever Olympic women’s 500m canoe sprint final | CBC Sports

The top four in the five-boat competition all reached the medal race, scheduled to be run on Friday night at 10:37 p.m. ET.

Vincent Lapointe, 29, and Vincent, 25, won worlds in 2017 and 2018, setting a world record in the latter at 1:51.428.

WATCH | Vincent Lapointe, Vincent paddle into semifinals:

Two-time world champions Laurence Vincent Lapointe and Katie Vincent won their quarter-final to advance to the women’s canoe sprint 500-metre semifinals. 6:12

Tokyo 2020 marks the first time women’s canoe sprint has been contested at the Olympics, making the Olympic sport fully gender-equal.

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Vincent Lapointe previously won silver in the individual 200-metre race.

But that was only possible after the Trois-Rivieres, Que., native endured a two-year legal battle just to get to Tokyo after proving a failed drug test was the result of second-hand contamination.

WATCH | Vincent Lapointe takes silver in 200m sprint:

Laurence Vincent Lapointe, from Trois-Rivières, Que., paddled her way to a silver medal in the Olympic debut of the women’s singles canoe 200 metres. Nevin Harrison of the U.S. won gold while Katie Vincent of Mississauga, Ont. finished eighth. 6:42

Meanwhile, Canada’s Connor Fitzpatrick, competing in the men’s single 1,000m, failed to reach the medal race after placing last in his semifinal.

The 22-year-old from Dartmouth, N.S., posted a time of 4:12.609. He’ll paddle for classification in the B Final later Saturday.