Great Britain's C1 Women won the bronze medal to wrap up the racing at the European Canoe Slalom Championships in Tacen, Slovenia.
The reigning C1 team world champions, Mallory Franklin (Windsor), Kimberley Woods (Rugby) and Ellis Miller (Lee Valley), put in fine and composed performances and were leading the race at the first two time checks.
While they lost some time in the tricky lower part of the course, they readjusted and flew to the finish to cross the line in second place.
A 50 penalty was retrospectively added, which bumped them down the rankings before it was dramatically taken off again and the Brits were reinstated into a podium position in third place behind the winners Czechia and silver medallists Slovenia.
“There was so much drama in that,” said Kimberley. “As a team we had a really good run, but I was really disappointed with my paddle back and I was worried that it had cost us, but I gave it everything.
“We were initially given a 50 for the final gate but I knew I had gone through the gate cleanly so we were really happy it was taken off.
It's great to have finished the weekend on a high and with a positive result.”
Kimberley was the sole Brit and finished 12th in the C1 women's final earlier today.
Having started strongly through the first five gates, a missed stroke on gate 7 meant she was unable to pass cleanly through gate 8. A pole to the lip and a subsequent 50 second penalty put the podium out of reach but she was determined to make good the rest of the run.
“It's been a difficult couple of days, with the high water levels and the change in schedule,” she said. “There's always pre-race nerves but there was no easing into the racing here, every run counted.
“My heats run was a struggle but I was determined to make amends and improve on the first five gates, which I did. I nailed the start but missed a stroke into gate 7 and I knew when I got hit in the face by the pole, I'd missed it.
“I made a couple of mistakes which are really costly in Tacen, once you're on the back foot it's hard to get back. I wanted to finish strongly though and I was proud of how I tackled the rest of the race.”
In the heats, Mallory Franklin missed the top 12 cut by just 0.38 seconds, despite another clean and composed run. She finished in 13th place with teammate Ellis Miller, in her debut senior season, just 0.07 seconds behind in 14th place.
It was an agonising fourth place once again for Adam Burgess in the men's C1 final.
With the high river levels starting to drop, Burgess' trademark composure saw him through his second clean run of the day, having qualified comfortably in this morning's heat.
His boat speed saw him ahead at both the time checks, but despite losing a small margin through the tricky stopper at the bottom of the course, he maintained the lead and didn't pick up any costly penalties to cross the line in first place.
It was a nervous wait for the Stafford and Stone man and he could only watch as seven paddlers were still to go.
Adam was overtaken by locals Ziga Hocevar and Luca Bozic and was in the bronze medal position with the reigning Olympic Champion Ben Savsec the last man to go. With places in Paris still up for grabs for the Slovenians, Adam was ultimately pushed into fourth place.
“That's a tough one to sum up,” he said. “I'm happy with my performance and doing the job that I wanted to do.”
“I came away from last season feeling like I’d missed my opportunities at times and I knew I had been a little overcautious with Olympic selection looming over every race. This season I very much want to take my opportunities.
“I think I saw that style in the final today which is the first opportunity to test that under real conditions with an international field so I’m really happy to see the work I've put in over the winter pay off.
“Obviously I wasn't quite quick enough for the podium today but we know how hard it is to beat the Slovenians here. I'm happy to be second nation overall, it's always something you look at in Olympic year – where it's just one per nation racing- so in those terms it’s a good result.”
Reigning Champion Ryan Westley (Lower Wharf) started well in the final and was within touching distance of the leading time in the top section of the course and did go ahead at the second time check. But a touch on gate 17 and some lost time in the bottom end of the course meant he ultimately finished in 9th.
Competing in their first senior European Championships, World U23 silver medallist Kurts Adams Rozentals and Luc Royle, both of Stafford and Stone, raced well and finished in 24th and 28th place respectively.
Performance Director Mark Ratcliffe was pleased with the weekend campaign.
“It's good to get the season underway and complete the first senior international event,” he said. “Winning five medals has been really positive, with three in Olympic events.
“I'm really pleased for Joe Clarke to win his first European title, to back up the Kayak Cross gold medal at the World Championships and it was great for Nikita Setchell and Jonny Dickson to both medal on the senior circuit too.
“Mallory did a great job yesterday as did the women's C1 picking up the bronze today.
“There have been a lot of positives across the board, it was good to see how well the team adapted to the conditions and the changes in format and schedule, particularly those making their senior team debuts here.”