Kristina Armstrong concluded her U23 season with a sixth place finish in the K1 500m as the 2024 ICF Junior & U23 sprint World Championships drew to a close.
Tom Lambert was also in A Final action as he claimed a top eight finish to conclude his U23 international season in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Fresh from becoming U23 European Champion, Scottish Performance Squad's Kristina Armstrong lined up in another U23 K1 500m A Final as she looked to build on an impressive first year at the U23 level.
It was another strong showing from the 2023 junior world medallist as she remained in the hunt for a third international medal of the year at the halfway stage.
Making ground in the latter stages of the race, she couldn't quite impact the podium as she rounded off her Worlds with a sixth overall, finishing with her fastest time of the week in 1:56.078.
Lincoln's Lambert has also enjoyed a strong year at the U23 level. After winning his C1 1000m B Final yesterday, he swiftly followed Armstrong in the 500m A Final this morning.
Going out hard at the start, Lambert was in contention with very little between the nine athletes. His time of 1:54.836 saw a personal best finish of eighth overall.
He said:
“One of the regrets I had at the Euros was not racing boldly in the final, and being a bit reserved at the start.
“I've learned from that and decided to go for it in the first half and race boldly.
“I'm happy with being confident and going for it. I suffered a bit at the backend but overall I'm pleased with executing my race plan.
“My racing has been good this week. I would've liked my placements to be better but from where I was last year. I feel super confident after winning the B Final.
“Everyone around me has been supportive. I've had good coaching in place to train really well and work hard to improve those bits I set out at the start of the season.
“It's shown where I’ve put in the work, I've got the rewards from that.”
Toby Bullock was first up for the British team, finishing eighth in the junior K1 1000m B Final.
Bullock put down a valiant effort to post a time of 3:50.241 and claim 17th overall.
Royal Leamington Spa's Phil Miles swiftly followed in the U23 1000 B Final, rounding off his final U23 season with a fourth.
Miles' time of 3:43.411 placed him 13th overall.
There was a C Final for Annabel Hutchinson (Reading) after achieving her first junior A Final earlier this week in the 1000m.
Today she battled the K1 500m, where she went head to head for the win, narrowly missing out by 0.01 seconds in a strong time of 2:03.487.
Two British crews battled the mixed 5km relays which made its event debut at the Jnr/U23 World Championships in Auronzo last year.
Pairs were required to complete four laps of the Plovdiv course, two per athlete, with portages breaking up each round for athletes to exchange in a designated zone.
Coming back from their earlier finals, Bullock and Hutchinson teamed up for the junior K1 final as the pair concluded busy weeks of racing.
After strong campaigns in their individual boats, the Brits put up a great battle in pursuit of a top three finish.
Their time of 22:48.139 was just 10 seconds off the bronze medal
Zoe Clark (Royal) and Phil Miles rounded off their World Championships with a sixth place finish in the U23 K1 final.
The duo collectively completed the course in 22:15.911, less than 20 seconds off a podium place.
Recapping the last two international competitions, Alex McKeown, Performance Pathway Manager for Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe, said:
“It’s been a fantastic week of results. One of the reflections from athletes who attended the Europeans, was to try and attack a bit more from the start so it was fantastic to see athletes executing this and how hard they all fought across their races.
“Across the two competitions, we've had two golds in Olympic events at Euros and 10 A finals, including 5 during this competition.
“Kristina with a sixth in her first year as an U23 is really impressive, showing grit and determination as everyone has done here.
“Also, watching Tom Lambert, Zoe Clark and Annabel Hutchinson all reaching their A Finals and taking some great learnings from how they performed has been fantastic. Lots of highlights.
“It’s been great to see a number of athletes from the Sprint Performance Academy across both the European and Worlds team, and the benefit of having a consistent group of U23 athletes, training together, has really shown across the competitions.
“The team environment, the support that the athletes give to each other, and the support that they get from the staff, who they’re working with day in, day out, has been great.
“It feels like there is some momentum building within the academies and a massive credit to Sam (Glover) and Anton (Vazquez) for all the work they’ve done in Nottingham, but also, to Gabor (Szeltner) and the athletes that we have at Richmond.”
” Also, the work that Imogen Collins has demonstrated with the Junior athletes, helping them reflect on their European experiences and coming into this competition with clear goals and process has been fantastic to see.
” The teams across both the European and World Championships have been fantastic to support and I am incredibly proud of all the athletes and staff who have put in such hard work both on and off the water.”