Joe Clarke (Stafford and Stone) produced a performance for the ages as he claimed global gold in the individual men's K1 for the first time in his illustrious career on day five of the 2023 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships – a third title and sixth medal overall for the British team at the Lee Valley White Water Centre.
Olympic Champion from Rio 2016, Clarke was completely untouchable throughout the penultimate day of action on home waters in London, blitzing his way to a first ever individual medal in the men's K1 event at a World Championships – let alone a gold – with a truly breathetaking run in the final.
Clarke – the last to go courtesy of a sensational semi-final run as well – was significantly ahead on every single split in the medal showdown, scything his way perfectly through each of the 23 gates and stopping the clock in a time of 91.32 seconds, nearly a full two seconds ahead of Czech silver medallist Jiri Prskavec.
The 30-year-old, who is a double world champion in the kayak cross which follows on the final day and a holder of four global team medals, saw teammate Jonny Dickson (CR Cats) place ninth in the same men's kayak final while in the women's kayak fellow world champion from this week at Lee Valley Mallory Franklin (Windsor) was a valiant eighth.
Clarke's victory takes the British team's medal tally to six – three gold, two silver and one bronze – while the GB performances on the penultimate day also secured Olympic quota places, subject to confirmation, in the men's and women's kayak for Paris 2024. A further eight Brits, including Clarke, Dickson and Franklin, go in the kayak cross on the final day.
Joe Clarke said:
It [winning in front of his family] doesn't get much more special than that. Having the home support – I had about 50 friends and family come down from all over the country – and to be world champion in front of them is the icing on the cake.
– Joe Clarke
“It was a case of me doing what I knew I could do at home and I did exactly that – it was fantastic. My heats day wasn't me – I was a bit sick if I am completely honest. I didn't want to admit it to myself. I think I had a bit of a cold.
“I kept that to myself because I didn't want that to get into my head. I had been going to bed at about 8:30pm to try and prepare for today. I woke up feeling close to 100 per cent so I thought ‘today's the day, let's go get it'.”
In contrast to Dickson who had the honour of setting the standard in the final after qualifying from the semi-final in the tenth and final spot, Clarke knew exactly what he had to do after setting a blistering time of 90.96 to qualify.
In a repeat of the semi-final, Clarke attacked the top of course and was 0.77 ahead of Prskavec at the first split at gate seven. If that wasn't a statement enough, what was to follow over the next four gates set the Olympic champion from 2016 up for something special.
By gate 11 Clarke had extended his advantage to 2.37 before retaining his composure over the rest of the middle section and into the bottom. He was flawless through the final S gate and then went head down for the line.
Clarke stopped the clock at 91.32 and let out a roar as the realisation that he had claimed a World Championship medal in the K1 – and gold at that – sank in. Prskavec was 1.94 behind with silver while bronze was a further 0.65 away.
Joe said: “Sitting at the top I could hear the crowd before I even started, which was nice but you have got to harness that in the right way. I knew Jiri before me had done a good time so I knew I had to put something down.
“The men's kayak is a really strong discipline in the UK. We are pushing on. It was Jonny's first senior worlds final, which is massive. I know he is probably not happy with his final performance but it is those guys who are going to be pushing me onto those top spots. If it's not me it's going to be them instead.
“I am looking forward to kayak cross. There is a target on my back for sure. It is nice to get that one ticked off today and in the bag and alleviate a bit of pressure for tomorrow. But being the competitor I am, I want to win tomorrow as well so let's go get it.”
Dickson's journey to a maiden World Championship final had some drama to it as he qualified for the semi-final in the final place available while he advanced to the final in similar circumstances – tenth and having to wait nearly an hour to find out as the field ticked off.
In the final Dickson was smooth and clean and adapted well in the bottom section, incurring zero penalties and clocking a time of 98.28. Such was the standard in the final Dickson was one of nine to go clean as he ranked ninth.
Jonny Dickson said:
I thought it was going really well. I don't feel like the occasion got the better of me. I was able to paddle the way I wanted to and I thought I did a really good job of it on most of the course. There were a few big time losses at the bottom and a bit of plan B but I thought I dealt with it really well.
“Obviously it wasn't going to be enough to challenge today but being in the final was an achievement in itself so I am pretty happy. I sat and watched everyone come down [in the semi-final]. I thought on multiple occasions it was gone but I somehow hung on in there. It's definitely the biggest crowd I have raced in front of and it's really cool to feel that energy.”
The British men unfortunately just fell short of a clean sweep from the semi-finals of the kayak into the medal showdown at Lee Valley as Chris Bowers (Stafford and Stone) narrowly missed out.
Bowers incurred penalties at gates seven and 12 but battled valiantly all the way to the finish line to still break the 99-second barrier and clock a time of 98.70 which ranked him 26th after all 40 boats had gone.
Chris Bowers said: “I felt good coming into the run but just two small touches proved pretty costly. I also didn't quite execute the plan I fully wanted and that cost me a bit more time. I'm gutted I couldn't be in the final.
“I thought the course might be a bit more different. They set some quite standard moves, which personally for me, I didn't execute them the way I needed to. I've got the opportunity in the kayak cross and I will reset for the time trial in that and then hopefully the head to head.”
Meanwhile Franklin placed fifth going into the women's kayak final – having needed two heats to reach the semi-final – and produced a strong top section despite being adjudged to have touched gate seven.
The double world champion from this event, Franklin had a one second lead at that point and continued to work all the way down the course, not incurring another time penalty, with her time 108.65 eventually ranking her eight overall.
Mallory Franklin said: “It wasn't the best I have ever done. I wanted to go out and do a run for me. Recently in kayak I have not been feeling overly smooth and I think that probably showed a bit as well.
“I am not really enjoying paddling from gate one to gate two at the moment. I don't think I have actually done it well – in my second heat it was alright but that is about it. I was a bit unsure of the water and off a bit on both of the S's [gates]. I am not surprised that it was the time that it was. I am a bit upset I couldn't replicate my semi-final – that was pretty quick and felt pretty fluid.
“When you do well it is more draining than you realise. It was kind of nice because it allowed me to come into the K1 and not be too bothered about the outcome. I'm obviously really happy to have made the final and would have loved to have got a medal but coming out here being a world champion is good.”
There was heartache for Kimberley Woods (Rugby) in the semi-finals of the women's kayak that kick started the penultimate day as she agonisingly missed out on a place in the final the morning after her superb silver in the women's canoe.
Among the last four to go after a fine performance in the heats, a good top section had Woods within 0.62 of the lead time at that time with that still the case as she exited the 11th gate at Lee Valley.
She appeared to go too far down on upstream gate 19 and, despite battling all the way to the end for a clean run and doing really well to make up time, her posting of 110.10, placed her 19th overall and outside the top ten needed to progress to the final.
Kimberley Woods said: “It is not nice. It is such a shame that I couldn't quite get my performance out there. I felt probably more nervous than I have any other day. I really wanted to go out there and smash it and it was just little things along the way and that big mistake in the middle just cost it for me.
“I am really disappointed but I will be picking myself up for the kayak cross. I will use all the skills and everything I have learnt over the years – my experience paddling but also outside of paddling with mental health. Having that extra opportunity is why I triple up and I'd be scared if I was on the start line with me.”
Sandwiched in between Franklin and Woods in the women's kayak semi-finals was their fellow world kayak team bronze medallist from Tuesday, Phoebe Spicer (Lee Valley), who produced a really solid run as her world debut continued.
Right at the very end Spicer was adjudged to have touched the last gate of the course, gate 23, for a two-second time penalty which gave her a finishing time of 110.07, just ahead of Woods, for equal 17th overall.
Phoebe Spicer said: “I thought I was on a really good run up until near the bottom. I slid out of an up gate a little bit and lost a bit of time and the penalty on the last gate was a bit annoying – but overall I am happy with the run.
“I had walked the course before the race started and when I got out there and saw how big the crowd was it was really nice. My mum told me the other day it was ten years ago this week that I had my first ever slalom race. So it's cool that ten years on I am racing my first World Championships.”
British team medal tally:
Gold (3): Women's canoe team, Mallory Franklin [Women's canoe], Joe Clarke [Men's kayak]
Silver (2): Men's canoe team, Kimberley Woods [Women's canoe]
Bronze (1): Women's kayak team