Kerry and Emma Christie were crowned U23 European Champions as Britain won three classic medals on the first day of the junior and U23 wild water European Championships in Dallenwil, Switzerland.
Kerry Christie also won an individual silver medal, whilst Ciara Maloney and Elsie Landsborough brought home their first international medal in the C2 juniors.
The Brits are strong in numbers out in Switzerland with a brilliant athlete and staff team of 32, making it the biggest cohort at an international competition for some time.
Fresh from being crowned overall World Cup winners in Mezzana two weeks ago, the Christie sisters were back on course looking to win their first classic U23 European gold in the event.
It was a fantastic delivery from the pair, who continued their formidable partnership in the boat to bring home the gold medal in a time of 15:57.127.
Adding to their 2023 U23 World title and 2024 senior World Cup victories, the duo were nearly 30 seconds ahead of the next crew.
They said:
“It feels great to win gold.
“It was a good run. Probably the best we've done. There was a tough section but it didn't cost us too much time as it was a fast bit of water anyway.
“We could see we were catching the crew in front of us, but we still weren't sure how we'd done overall.”
It was the pair's second run of the day having competed in the individual U23 K1 classic earlier in the morning.
Kerry Christie was the stand out performer as she secured a classic U23 silver medal to get her competition underway with two medals.
She delivered a fantastic and composed run to cross the line in 14:46.383 and finish comfortably in second place, just 20 seconds shy of Italian Cecilia Panato who secured the gold.
She said:
“I'm very pleased to win the silver medal, I wasn't sure I'd be able to do that on this particular river.
“It was a very hard run, a few bits that were tricky but happy to get down the river like that.
“You have to be perfect on your lines and I’m delighted with what I delivered.”
Juniors Ciara Maloney and Elsie Landsborough rounded off a fantastic first day of racing to win their first international medal with silver in the junior women's C2 classic final.
Chasing the time of 16:34.393 set by the Czechia duo, Maloney and Landsborough powered down the course in 16:43.137 to comfortably secure second place and a medal on their junior European debuts.
Emma Christie placed 10th in what was a tight U23 women's kayak classic, posting a time of 15:05.885.
Lucy Guest placed 14th as she was just four seconds behind her British teammate (15.09.772), whilst Molly Sandercock came 18th overall.
In the U23 men's K1 event, Leon Tomlinson was the top placed Brit as he navigated the course in 14:14.690.
British teammate Ed Butler came 26th as he finished in 14:35.064, whilst Eddie Mackintosh was two places behind in 28th.
Toby Peyton Jones finished 37th in 15:22.246.
There was a ninth place finish for Huw Singleton as he crossed the line in 14:31.286 in the junior men's kayak classic.
Will Stevely was in action twice on the opening day as he finished 13th in the kayak, whilst he finished 18th in the junior canoe final.
Brother Sam Stevely was 21st in the junior kayak, whilst Regan Toop rounded off the British involvement in the event with a 28th place finish
Ryan Mallon was the sole Brit in the U23 men's C1 classic as he delivered a time of 16:59.887 to finish 13th.
Junior women's kayak athlete Freya Pryce secured an 11th place finish in 15:42.305 with fellow Brit Iona Partick one behind in 12th.
Ciara Maloney was on course twice as she finished 16th in the same event.
Callum McDonald finished one place behind Stevely in the junior men's canoe as he placed 19th in 17:33.567, whilst Oliver Stegeman came 20th with Regan Toop 21st on his second outing of the day.
Molly Sandercock rounded off her first day with an eighth place finish in the C1W U23, clocking 17:35.101.
Emily Maclean concluded the British interest on day one as she finished 10th in the junior C1 women's classic in 18:19.671