Great Britain narrowly missed out on medals as the 2025 ICF Wildwater Sprint World Championships drew to a close in Czechia.
British wildwater paddlers have become a regular fixture on the podium in recent seasons, but team manager Jamie Christie said they had approached these championships with development and participation chiefly in mind.
A large and youthful 24-strong squad made the trip, with several kayak paddlers taking their first steps into canoe racing.
“Sprint events aren’t our strongest discipline and this course was particularly tough – any tiny mistake really cost you,” said Jamie.
“But we got some creditable results, and considering we sent out one minibus to the last sprint world championships, this time we needed three.
“We were the second biggest represented team here and were able to compete in every discipline.”
He added: “I thought we might have been able to get a medal in the C2 with Kerry and Emma and in one of the team events.
“The couple we won in Sabero last year were nice, but we were on the lucky side of the times, but this time we were on the wrong end of them.
“It’s a bit disappointing going away without a medal, but there have been good learnings and a really good team atmosphere so there are good foundations for the future being laid.”
There was disappointment for Kerry and Emma Christie as they missed out in the women’s C2 final.
They won both the world U23 C2 sprint titles in sprint and classic in Solkan this summer, and looked ominous in topping heat two on Friday.
Fifth down in the final, they produced a smooth run to go quickest with 55.28, almost mirroring yesterday’s time, but they were ultimately pushed out of the medals into fifth.
The young team of Elsie Landsborough and Ciara Maloney produced a solid run to post 58.82secs.
But Laura Milne and Freya Pryce failed to finish after their boat overturned midway down the testing 250m course in Ceske Budejovice.
The men’s C2 team came closest to a medal for GB in the championship finale.
The combinations of Patrick Marriott and Nick Boreham, Harry Sewell-Catchpole and Andrew Crowhurst, and Jacob Holmes with Rob Jefferies got down in 54.70, and sat second with just two teams to go.
A quick Czech team pushed them down into bronze medal position before the French pinched gold at the last, leaving the British team in fourth.
Ed Mackintosh led a good run from GB’s men’s K1 team, with Jacob Holmes and Alex Sheppy as they set the second-fastest time of the early runners in 51.86.
Sheppy caught an edge close to the finish, stalling his momentum and costing the team a few seconds as they placed ninth.
The first of the team finals was the women’s K1, with Lucy Guest leading the trio down, followed by Kerry Christie and Victoria Murray.
The Brits held a good tight formation and looked set to post a highly competitive time, but Murray was thrown off line into the wall, late in the run. They went on to clock 1:02.16 for seventh place.
In the men’s C1 team category, a solid looking run from Nick Boreham, Regan Toop and Andrew Crowhurst ended early when Toop’s boat overturned near the bottom of the course.
The women’s C1 team of Freya Pryce, Kerry Christie and Laura Milne did finish third, but with just three teams, it was not run as a medal race.