Great Britain won a sensational 1 – 2 in the Women's KL2 finals at the Paracanoe & Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg with Charlotte Henshaw winning gold in the discipline and Emma Wiggs in silver.
Reigning World and Paralympic Champion Charlotte Henshaw MBE picked up her fifth KL2 gold medal with a time of 48.706 – and the all important quota spot for Paris 2024.
Having stepped back from the Va'a this season to support the aspirations of the team, Charlotte dominated the world class field, not letting an issue at the start put her off her stroke.
She said: “I came here with a job to do, it was tough to sit out of the Va'a yesterday but my job was to qualify that kayak spot and thankfully we’ve got that and again it makes me proud that Emma and me can continue the tradition of the top two steps going to GB – I’m delighted.
“I'm really happy to get the job done, most importantly for that quota for next year, but also personally to win another world title is something I wouldn't have imagined when I moved over from swimming,” Henshaw said.
“I just want to keep doing the best I can, and keep pushing the sport forward. I'm very lucky to still be doing Paralympic sport, and to be 36 and still winning gold medals, I feel really privileged to be able to do that.”
Fresh from winning the VL2 gold medal yesterday, European KL2 Champion Emma Wiggs MBE was back on the water in the same event. And, despite Hungary's Katalin Varga putting up a strong fight, Wiggs finished more than a second clear of her nearest rival to win the silver.
She said: “I'm really pleased, I completely missed the start, but that's racing. It's all a bit of a blur but I'm really chuffed to win another medal. I’m phenomenally proud of Char for smashing it again.
“To see where we, as a pair, have taken this sport over ten years is phenomenal. I think I won it in around 56 seconds in 2013 so we're just continuing to push it on and I'm pleased to keep chasing it.
“I've found it really hard this competition with the compacted schedule so I need to work on that, but it is what it is and I'm lucky to be able to race two boats and I'm really proud that I've been able to do that for the team.”
Chelmsford's Ed Clifton, making his World Championships debut, finished in 9th place in the Men's VL2 200m final.
“It was ok, I enjoyed it. It was good to get the first one done but overall I’m pleased with the competition.”
Lewis Fletcher who hails from Falkirk, raced in his first international Canoe Sprint A Final. A storming effort from him saw him place 5th in the men's K1 200m, missing the podium placings by less than 0.3 seconds.
“I didn’t ever think I’d ever in my life be that close to a medal at a World Champs but I’m so gutted that I was so close, but I am happy.
“It was a big thing for me to come here and be competitive but I needed this result.
“I had so much fun racing these guys and happy to be here, I’m really enjoying my racing.”
Brother and sister, Chelmsford's Dan and Melissa Johnson were both fifth in their respective B Finals of the K1 1000m. Dan crossed the line in 03:33.517 and Melissa in 4.12.252. She will be back on the water tomorrow afternoon contesting the 5000m distance.
The day kicked off with B finals with Beth Gill (Chelmsford) and Katie Reid (Forth) in the C2W 500m. The duo finished in 6th place in 2:03:049.
Lucy Lee-Smith 4th place in the C final of the K1 500m in 01:56.235.
She was back on the Duisburg lake this afternoon for the semi-final of the K1 200m but narrowly missed out a spot in the B final by a margin less than 0.09 seconds. She finished in 7th place in 42.091.
U23 pairing Phil Miles (Royal Leamington Spa) and Luke Shaw (Norwich) are making their senior World Championships debut this week and finished in 3rd place in the B Final of the K2 1000m in 03:21.160.
This afternoon's session was made up of crucial semi-finals which determined the final day for the Brits.
The pairing of Deborah Kerr (Anker Valley) and Emma Russell (Chelmsford), had to put the disappointment of the K4 behind them to refocus on the semi-final of the K2. The crew were in fifth place at the 250m split but after an almighty effort in the final stages, they held off an attack from the Canadian pairing and Dutch duo to finish in third.
They crossed the line in 01:41.624 and will race in the A final tomorrow where Olympic quota spots are available.
The men's VL3 semi-finals was stacked with international talent, including British reigning world champion Jack Eyers and Paralympic bronze medallist Stu Wood.
Both Brits qualified through to the A final and will battle it out in lanes 8 and 9 tomorrow in what will be one of the most hotly contested finals of the day.
Jeanette Chippington OBE was the clear victor in the women's KL1 200m semi-final to book her place in the final tomorrow morning. She was over two seconds clear of her nearest rival and will race in her 17th World Championships final.
Phil Miles was back on the water with mixed K2 partner Zoe Clark (Royal) in the semi final of the mixed K2 500m.
They were in fifth at the halfway mark and dug deep to pull into third place with the line in sight. A late fightback from the Kazakhstan pair meant an agonising wait and photo finish but eventually their third place was confirmed and they both qualified for their first senior A final.
Finally, C2 500m duo Fladbury's Jonathan Jones and Richmond's Ben Phillips fought hard in their semi final and booked their spot in the C final.
The racing resumes tomorrow morning and can be followed on Recast.