Joe Clarke soared to men’s kayak cross time trial victory in Tacen to mark a brilliant return to the World Cup scene.
In a contest that saw two Brits on the podium, with Sam Leaver clinching bronze, Clarke perfectly executed his run to take the top spot.
The two-time Olympic medallist crossed the line in a time of 50.35s, almost an entire second ahead of silver medallist Jakub Krejci of Czechia.
“I’m really happy, I missed the first couple of World Cups with my second child being born so this was my first proper race to get stuck into on the world stage,” he said.
“It was nice to show the pace again in the time trial and the win meant a lot.”
Leaver took bronze in a time of 51.30s, just five hundredths of a second off Krejci. It marks the 21-year-old’s second World Cup bronze this year after also impressing on the Under-23 scene and Clarke noted his pride in being able to share the podium with his teammate as they look to dominate on the world scene.
“It was nice to share the podium with my training partner and teammate Sam,” he added.
“We’re pushing each other to new heights all the time and it’s nice to see that we both have the pace to be up there.
“He was on 0.05 off silver so it could easily have been first and second for us which is really cool.
“That’s our aim as a group, to always be that one-two every single time so it’s nice to see it coming together nicely.”
Leaver narrowly missed out on a second medal later in the day, reaching the kayak cross final but finishing fourth.
There was also success for Nikita Setchell, who clinched an incredible bronze in the women’s kayak cross.
The 25-year-old finished third in a dramatic whitewater battle behind Andrea Herzog of Germany and Japan’s Momoka Nagasu, with Spain’s Maialen Chourraut just missing out on the podium.
And after going head-to-head with Chourraut early on in the race, Setchell was thrilled to get back on the podium in Tacen, having won European Championship bronze in the event on the same waters in 2024.
“I feel really happy,” she said. “It’s nice to get another medal in Tacen and it’s good to be back here.
“It was difficult to stay calm, especially at gate two in the final as it was very chaotic but I knew that I just had to keep pushing hard to get to the finish.”
Kimberley Woods missed out on a spot in the women’s kayak cross final after reaching the last eight, while Lois Lever finished fourth in her heat and did not progress to the quarter finals.
Jonny Dickson reached the quarterfinals of the men’s kayak cross, narrowly missing out on a place in the semi-finals.