Kristina Armstrong headlined a strong British contingent on the final day of the U23/Junior Canoe Sprint European Championships.
The U23 athlete finished fourth in a stacked K1 Under 23 Women 500m final, crossing the line in a time of 1:55.797 and narrowly missing out on a medal.
Armstrong finished 4.180 seconds behind eventual winner Eszter Rendessy of Hungary, who led a dominating top three, with the Brit getting the better of the rest of the field.
Armstrong returned later that afternoon and teamed up with Amy Green for the K2 Under 23 Women 500m A Final.
The duo had won their semi-final the previous day but faced tough competition from the top teams, eventually coming away with a seventh-place finish.
“Our aims this week focussed on delivering our processes and maximising our opportunities to race at this level,” said team manager James Train, reflecting on the competition.
“The whole team has done this exceptionally well and I’m really proud about how they have applied themselves on and off the water this week.
“The opportunity to race against the best paddlers in Europe is a really important step in these athletes journeys and the learnings from this event will be taken forward by all.”
In the K4 men’s 500m events, there were two British quartets in action.
Tom Hatton, Samuel Dickson, Oliver Mazur and Freddie Heard finished fifth in the junior race, just 0.27 of a second off bronze.
While Xavier Hinves, Dyland O’Connor, Benjamin Cabrera and Tom Holland finished ninth in the U23.
British interest in the B Finals saw Dianora de Bilio fight to a second-place finish in the K1 Junior women’s 500m.
De Bilio produced a stunning performance against the dominant Rebecca Hirsch of Germany, to finish in a time of 2:04.721.
The youngster was back on the water later in the day for the K1 Junior women’s 200m, rounding out her championships in fourth.
In the first B Final of the day, Gabriel Popham-Coveley finished fourth in the K1 U23 men’s 500m, with Hatton taking sixth in the junior event.
While in the K2 men’s 500, Mazur and Heard clinched eighth in the junior category and Benjamin Cabrera and Tom Holland sixth in the U23s.
Isaac Aveson finished fourth in the K1 Junior men’s 200 in a time of 38.025s, as Haydyn Cooke-Bayley claimed eight in the U23 race.
“I would like to congratulate all the coaches of the athletes on the team and give my thanks to the staff team that worked exceptionally hard to deliver a great environment for the athletes out here in Romania,” added Train.