Birthday girl Kimberley Woods won a fantastic C1 silver medal in what was a tight finish at the Canoe Slalom World Cup Final in Prague.
Kimberley was the fastest of the semi-finalists on the first race of the day and put in an exceptional final run to claim the silver medal.
Having been the last competitor down the course, it was Jess Fox who had set a blistering pace to finish 4.44 seconds ahead of the local paddler Tereza Fiserova.
Mallory Franklin had an uncharacteristic race, missing the cut into the final by almost three and a half seconds to finish in 15th place overall in 129.21
Sophie Ogilvie, in her first international senior season, was strong at the start of her run but picked up three touches on the middle section to finish 23rd overall in 132.71.
The men’s canoe single (C1) event was a particularly tense affair for the trio of David Florence, Ryan Westley and Adam Burgess with the competition doubling up as a second Olympic selection event.
Adam Burgess took it out early on in the semi finals posting a fast clean run of 101.54 seconds to sit at the top of the leader board for the remaining half of the field to chase.
His final run also looked to have gone well, with his time enough to put him in silver medal position. However a late called touch on gate 8 quickly bumped him off the podium to finish in sixth.
David Florence was also in the semi final, but was unable to respond to the pace at the top and he quickly slipped down the rankings to miss the all-important top ten, finishing 13th.
Ryan Westley, who was last to go in the semi final, picked up two touches and finished in 15th place and joined David Florence as a disappointed spectator for the final.
Reigning Olympic Champion Joe Clarke looked in great form in the semi final of the K1M, and despite picking up a two second penalty, was one of the quickest in the field.
But despite flying off to a fantastic start, demonstrating his trademark speed, Joe picked up too many penalties to make an impact on the podium places.
There was heartbreak for Bradley Forbes-Cryans and Chris Bowers in the semi-final of the K1M after both paddlers picked up 50 point penalties. They finished in 34th and 35th place respectively in 142.45 and 145.65
In the women’s kayak single (K1), Kimberley Woods continued to show good form after two second places in the heats.
Coming ninth in the semis, she went on to post her first clean run of the weekend in the final, to top the leader board, but was eventually nudged down to fifth.
Mallory Franklin also went clean in the final, but she couldn’t quite produce the usual silky smooth run to collect further rewards, finish one place behind Woods in sixth.
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