Lois Leaver rounded out the Junior & U23 Canoe Slalom World Championships with silver in the women’s U23 kayak cross.
The Scottish paddler flew through the rounds in Foix to take the only British medal of the day after Olwen Yates just missed out in the women’s junior kayak cross final.
Sam Leaver and Gwion Williams also reached the semi-finals in the men’s U23 and junior categories, respectively.
In the women’s U23 heats, Leaver stormed out into the lead early and was never overtaken to make it through to the quarter-finals.
Earlier, Macy Kang had kept pace well, but a final charge was just too late to overtake Marcella Altmann of the USA on the line as she did not progress.
Just as she did in the heats, Leaver cruised through into the final eight but had a much tougher time in the semi-finals.
The Edinburgh Schools athlete had to battle to the line to secure her spot, but her pace saw her take top spot.
With medals on the line in the final, Leaver chose tactics over speed as she followed leader Evy Leibfarth into the first upstream gate, but the gamble did not pay off as she was left in last place.
However, Leaver was given clear water for the second upstream as she paddled through to initially finish third before she was upgraded to silver after a fault for Leibfarth
“It feels really cool, it is always tough in kayak cross, you never know how it is going to go, so I am really pleased with the outcome,” Leaver said.
“I feel like right off the get go, I knew that I was going to chase her [Evy Leibfarth], that was my plan, so I just tried to hit her hard, and then you kind of have to just see what happens.
“I’m excited to have a bit of a rest now, I’m staying with my parents in a campervan and I’ll probably end up going canoeing, but I won’t race for a little bit and will have some time at home before hitting the back end of the season.”
In the women’s juniors, Yates led out her heat before battling through an upward gate to make it safely through, while the final women’s heat saw two Brits up against each other.
Arina Kontchakov got a good start with Darcey McMullins getting tangled early on before moving up to second.
Kontchakov then missed an upstream gate and had to paddle back up, with McMullins also getting caught to see both miss out.
Yates was calm and collected in her quarter-final to make it through in first position and took second to book her place in the final, where she came home in fourth.
She said: “I wasn’t really expecting to be in the final in the first place, to be honest. I just kept making it through the rounds, and I was just happy to be making it.
“I was less nervous for the final because I was just happy to be there.
“It has been a really good experience being part of the team, everyone is really nice, it has been good to watch everybody, they have done so well.”
In the men’s junior heats, Dominic Thomas battled into third place, but could not catch up to the top two as he was held up on the final upstream, so was unable to progress.
Another heat with two Brits saw Gwion Williams and Harry Kirby move into the top two positions, and each chose the opposite upstream to see them both safely through.
They were again in the same race for the quarter-finals, with Williams advancing after leading from start to finish, but Kirby just missed out in a tightly contested battle.
Williams was up against three Spanish competitors in the semi-finals, and with the competition high, the Llandysul paddler finished in fourth.
“It was a tough one to be honest, sandwiched by all the Spaniards. To be fair to them, they were very good today,” he said.
“Kayak cross is really the roll of a dice, so I went in with the highest hopes, we didn’t come away with success today, but oh well.”
Having won time trial gold yesterday, Sam Leaver was similarly dominant in the men’s U23 heats, as Tom Mayer also made it through in first after avoiding getting caught in traffic.
Leaver claimed another first-place finish to make it into the last eight, but Mayer was handed a fault on the penultimate gate to see him fail to make it through.
In the semi-finals, Leaver made a strong start but missed out in the battle for second and saw his third place confirmed after a long check.
Great Britain ended the World Championships with eight medals across the disciplines.
Team Leader Nat Siegrist: “It has been a full week, every day was a medal day. The British team have been really good overall. We showed that we had potential in every class.
“We delivered solid performances throughout, with the added bonus of multiple medals, in the team event, in the slalom individual, in the kayak cross time trial and on the last day in the kayak cross head-to-head.
“I’d have to check the stats, but this has been a really good year, what strikes me as the most important feature is we are building a stronger team overall.
“There was spirit, people supporting each other, coaches working together, it really felt like we were a team this year. I am really grateful for that and this will make us stronger for the future.”