Luc Royle and Lewis Arden were the British highlights on the penultimate day of the U23 and Junior Canoe Slalom European Championships.
The duo raced into the finals of the men’s junior and U23 C1 event, taking eighth and ninth respectively.
Royle qualified 11th fastest for the U23 final and stepped up on the big stage to clinch eighth overall in a time of 97.67s.
Despite picking up a penalty on gate 11, Royle produced a brilliant run on the second half of the course to storm up the rankings.
“It was good to be in another final,” he said. “I narrowly made the final, with the slowest raw time, so I knew I needed to try and take it up a notch.
“The final run didn’t go my way, I had some mistakes and a slight touch so I have to settle for eighth.”
Elsewhere, Philip Smith missed out on progressing, finishing 16th overall in a time of 98.53s, with teammate Edward McDonald just two spots back in 18th.
Arden finished eighth in the junior semi-final in a time of 100.55s to fire himself to a first ever international final and eventually took ninth in the afternoons racing, clocking a time of 107.24 after clipping gate three to pick up a two second penalty.
“I’m super happy to make my first international final in eighth with a run I was proud of,” he said.
“I have really enjoyed racing this week, and particularly liked the spins they added for the semis and finals course as they added an extra level of difficulty and fun.”
A trio of Brits competed the women’s U23 semi-finals, with Katherine Shattock, Rachel Ellis and Sadie Sterry sadly missing out on progressing to the final.
The three finished close together, with Shattock in 24th, Ellis 25th and Sterry 29th.
In the junior event, Zoe Blythe-Shields and Darcey McMullins both missed out on progressing to the C1 final.
Blythe-Shields endured a tough start and immediately clipped the first gate, before an error on the 12th saw her pick up a 50-second penalty to finish 28th.
It was a similar story for McMullins who finished in 29th and picked up 58 seconds on the course.