# Canoeing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's K-4 500 metres

The women's K-4 500 metres sprint canoeing event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 6 and 7 August 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway. 48 canoeists (12 boats of 4) from 10 nations competed.

## Background

This was the 10th appearance of the event, having appeared at every Summer Olympics since 1984.
The reigning World Champions were Dóra Bodonyi, Erika Medveczky, Tamara Csipes, and Alida Dóra Gazsó of Hungary. The 2016 Olympic champions were also from Hungary: Gabriella Szabó, Danuta Kozák, Csipes, and Krisztina Fazekas.

## Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could qualify one place in the event. A total of 10 qualification places were available, all awarded through the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. There were required to be boats from 4 continents qualified. Thus, the top 7 at the World Championships were guaranteed to qualify, with the 8th, 9th, and 10th spots potentially being reserved for continental qualifiers. Additional places resulted from reallocation of quota spots when individual canoeists were in multiple classes of qualifying boats at the World Championships (10 spots were available, allowing the ROC and Denmark boats to qualify, but were not sufficient to qualify Great Britain).
Qualifying places were awarded to the NOC, not to the individual canoeist who earned the place.
The World Championships places were allocated as follows:
| Rank | Kayaker | Nation | Qualification | Selected competitors |
| 1 | Dóra Bodonyi Erika Medveczky Tamara Csipes Alida Dóra Gazsó | Hungary | Quota #1 (Continent #1) | |
| 2 | Maryna Litvinchuk Volha Khudzenka Nadzeya Liapeshka Marharyta Makhneva | Belarus | Quota #2 | |
| 3 | Karolina Naja Anna Puławska Katarzyna Kołodziejczyk Helena Wiśniewska | Poland | Quota #3 | |
| 4 | Lisa Carrington Aimee Fisher Caitlin Regal Kayla Imrie | New Zealand | Quota #4 (Continent #2) | |
| 5 | Sarah Guyot Léa Jamelot Sarah Troël Manon Hostens | France | Quota #5 | |
| 6 | Tina Dietze Franziska John Sabrina Hering-Pradler Caroline Arft | Germany | Quota #6 | |
| 7 | Alyce Burnett Jo Brigden-Jones Jaime Roberts Alyssa Bull | Australia | Quota #7 | |
| 8 | Inna Hryshchun Mariia Kichasova-Skoryk Mariya Povkh Anastasiia Todorova | Ukraine | Quota #8 | |
| 9 | Anastasia Panchenko Kira Stepanova Kristina Kovnir Anastasiia Dolgova | ROC | 4 reallocated places | |
| 10 | Ma Qing Huang Jieyi Zhou Yu Li Dongyin | China | Quota #9 (Continent #3) | |
| 11 | Emma Jørgensen Julie Funch Pernille Knudsen Line Langelund | Denmark | 3 reallocated places | |
| 12 | Michelle Russell Courtney Stott Lisa Bissonnette Natalie Davison | Canada | Quota #10 (Continent #4) | |
| 13 | Angela Hannah Hannah Brown Deborah Kerr Emily Lewis | Great Britain | Not qualified; 3 of 4 places available | — |

## Competition format

Sprint canoeing uses a four-round format for events with 12 boats, with heats, quarterfinals semifinals, and finals. The specifics of the progression format depend on the number of boats ultimately entered.
* Heats: 2 heats of 6 boats each. The top 2 in each heat (4 boats total) advance directly to the semifinals. The remaining 8 boats compete in the quarterfinal.
* Quarterfinal: 1 heat of 8 boats. The top 6 advance to the semifinals. The remaining 2 boats compete in Final B, out of medal contention.
* Semifinals: 2 heats of 5 boats each. The top 4 in each heat (8 boats total) advance to Final A; the remaining 2 boats compete in Final B, out of medal contention.
* Final: 2 heats. Final A has the top 8 boats, awarding the medals and 4th through 8th place. Final B has the remaining 4 boats, ranking them 9th through 12th.
The course is a flatwater course 9 metres wide. The name of the event describes the particular format within sprint canoeing. The "K" format means a kayak, with the canoeist sitting, using a double-bladed paddle to paddle, and steering with a foot-operated rudder (as opposed to a canoe, with a kneeling canoeist, single-bladed paddle, and no rudder). The "4" is the number of canoeists in each boat. The "500 metres" is the distance of each race.

## Schedule

The event was held over two consecutive days, with two rounds per day. All sessions started at 9:30 a.m. local time, though there are multiple events with races in each session.
Sprint :
| Event↓/Date → | Mon 2 | Mon 2 | Tue 3 | Tue 3 | Wed 4 | Wed 4 | Thu 5 | Thu 5 | Fri 6 | Fri 6 | Sat 7 | Sat 7 |
| Women's K-4 500 m | | | | | | | | | H | H | ½ | F |

## Canoers per team

| Number | Rowers | Nation |
| 1 | Jaime Roberts - Jo Brigden-Jones - Shannon Reynolds - Catherine McArthur | Australia |
| 2 | Marharyta Makhneva - Nadzeya Papok - Volha Khudzenka - Maryna Litvinchuk | Belarus |
| 3 | Andréanne Langlois - Michelle Russell - Alanna Bray-Lougheed - Madeline Schmidt | Canada |
| 4 | Li Dongyin - Zhou Yu - Ma Qing - Wang Nan | China |
| 5 | Emma Jørgensen - Julie Funch - Sara Milthers - Bolette Nyvang Iversen | Denmark |
| 6 | Manon Hostens - Vanina Paoletti - Sarah Guyot - Léa Jamelot | France |
| 7 | Sabrina Hering-Pradler - Melanie Gebhardt - Jule Hake - Tina Dietze | Germany |
| 8 | Danuta Kozák - Tamara Csipes - Anna Kárász - Dóra Bodonyi | Hungary |
| 9 | Lisa Carrington - Alicia Hoskin - Caitlin Regal - Teneale Hatton | New Zealand |
| 10 | Karolina Naja - Anna Puławska - Justyna Iskrzycka - Helena Wiśniewska | Poland |
| 11 | Natalia Podolskaya - Anastasiia Dolgova - Kira Stepanova - Svetlana Chernigovskaya | ROC |
| 12 | Mariia Kichasova-Skoryk - Liudmyla Kuklinovska - Anastasiia Todorova - Mariya Povkh | Ukraine |

## Results
### Heats

Progression System: 1st-2nd to SF, rest to QF.

### Quarterfinal

Progression System: 1st-6th to SF, rest to Final B.
| Rank | Lane | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Belarus | 1:35.534 | SF |
| 2 | 4 | China | 1:36.379 | SF |
| 3 | 1 | Ukraine | 1:36.948 | SF |
| 4 | 7 | France | 1:37.138 | SF |
| 5 | 6 | Australia | 1:37.601 | SF |
| 6 | 2 | Denmark | 1:37.682 | SF |
| 7 | 8 | ROC | 1:38.372 | FB |
| 8 | 3 | Canada | 1:38.537 | FB |

### Semifinals

Progression System: 1st-4th to Final A, rest to Final B.