Zoe Clark and Annabel Hutchinson both claimed seventh place finishes in their respective 1000m A Finals on the third day of the Junior & U23 World Championships in Plovdiv.
It was Hutchinson (Reading) who took to the water first in Bulgaria after continuing her strong 2024 form in the semi-finals yesterday.
Lining up in her first World Championship A Final, the junior athlete raced well to keep herself in the picture for a top five finish. She kept pushing hard, as the 18-year-old claimed a seventh place finish overall in her fastest time of the week in 4:15.409.
She will now turn her attention to the 500m semi-finals tomorrow.
Royal’s Clark, who had an excellent fightback yesterday in the semi-finals, put down another valiant effort in the U23 K1W 1000m A Final.
In touching distance of the medals at the halfway stage, the 23-year-old battled hard for the backend of the race to shave over ten seconds off her semi-final time, as she crossed the line in 4:08.748 to place seventh.
She said: “I got into this final much more than I did at the Euros final. I managed to claw back some distance in the final 200m. It was also a lot better than my other two runs this week so I’m happy with how I performed.
“I would’ve liked to be closer to the medallists but it’s great to contest and beat people in an A Final so I’m overall happy with that.”
U23 European Champions Clark and Kristina Armstrong (Scottish Performance Squad) will race their second A Final of the season after another impressive display in the K2 500m.
With the top three progressing, the duo were strong in their pursuit of the A Final as they knocked four seconds off their heats time to finish second and give themselves a chance at a second international medal.
Clark continued: “We’re really excited for this final. We know we can perform in the finals and we’ve done that once already this season. We want to put down what we can tomorrow.
“We know it’s going to be a tough race and a lot of boats will be close.
“It’s been exciting how this boat come to better. We’ve found a good rhythm. We’ve worked with Anton (Vazquez) to get into a great place. We’ve worked hard and looking forward to a good race tomorrow.”
There was an intense battle from the U23 men’s K4 500m crew of Phil Miles (Royal Leamington Spa), Xavier Hinves (Southampton), Dylan O’Connor (Richmond), and Benji Cabrera (Fowey) in this morning’s B Final.
Going head-to-head with the Swedish and Belgian crews, very little split the three boats at the dying stages, as the Brits powered to second place in 1:22.550, 0.1 off a B Final victory.
Lincoln’s Tom Lambert will contest tomorrow’s B Final after finishing fourth in the U23 C1M 1000m semi-finals.
Engaging in a battle with Hungary’s Kristof Kallar for the final A Final spot, Lambert was incredibly close to taking third, but 0.3 separated the duo meaning the Brit will race the B Final.
Philippe Ehrnrooth (Devizes) will be in C Final action first up tomorrow morning.
The junior athlete finished eighth in his K1 men’s 500m semi-final as he clocked a time of 1:51.308.
Also in C Final action tomorrow will be Nelson Kinzler and Huw Singleton in the junior K2 500m.
The duo posted 1:42.802 as they finished seventh in their semi-final this afternoon.
Owen Chisholm (Richmond) just missed out on the B Final in the junior C1M 1000m semi-finals.
The 17-year-old finished seventh in 5:04.654, narrowly off the top six needed to progress.
Xavier Hinves (Southampton) and Dylan O’Connor (Richmond) also missed out on the final stages of the U23 K2 men’s 500m, as the pair finished eighth in their semi-finals with a time of 1:41.762.