Great Britain kickstarted their campaign at the 2023 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with an impressive three medals from the first four events – gold, silver and bronze – as Mallory Franklin (Windsor) and Kimberley Woods (Rugby) both doubled up on the opening day at the Lee Valley White Water Centre.
Alongside late call up Ellis Miller (Lee Valley), Franklin and Woods stormed to gold in the very first event of these home Championships – the women's canoe team competition – executing a perfectly clean run through 18 gates for a blistering, and unbeatable, time of 112.45 seconds.
Franklin and Woods were back on the water just over an hour later to claim bronze, after an agonising wait, in the women's kayak team event with debutant Phoebe Spicer (Lee Valley) while sandwiched in between Adam Burgess (Stafford and Stone), Ryan Westley (Lower Wharfe) and James Kettle (Lee Valley) took an impressive silver in the men's canoe team.
Unfortunately for the men's kayak team of Joe Clarke (Stafford and Stone), Chris Bowers (Stafford and Stone) and Jonny Dickson (CR Cats) they were adjudged to have missed a gate and so placed 22nd with the British team medal tally after day one ending at three – one gold, one silver and one bronze.
Franklin, Woods and Miller – competing together for the first time ever – had the honour of officially starting the British team's campaign at their home World Championships and they could not have asked for a better start in the women's canoe team competition.
The British trio had the benefit of being among the last three nations to go and so not only knew what time they would need to be in the mix but also knew they would not have to wait long to discover their final placing once finished either.
By that point, not a single nation had completed the course without a penalty and Franklin, Woods and Miller started extremely well in a bid to become the first to do so – all navigating the tricky double up section very well.
Through halfway Franklin, Woods and Miller were clean – and well over a second quickest at that point – and the British trio went on to add even more of a gap through the second half of the course.
Faultless all the way through the 18 gates, they crossed the line in a time of 112.45 to storm into gold medal position with two nations to go. Germany couldn't get in the medal mix next up so it was left to the Czech Republic to try and upset the British party.
The Czech Republic team made an impressive effort of chasing the Brits but, despite going clean themselves, they didn't quite have the speed as they finished 2.10 behind in silver medal position.
For Franklin and Woods it is a golden upgrade from the women's canoe team bronze they won at last year's World Championships while for Miller it caps a remarkable past three days as she only came into the team as late replacement for the injured Sophie Ogilvie.
Mallory Franklin said: “It is nice to do it at home and it was a really nice solid clean run and I felt like we kept it running. I was really confident when we went through the finish line.”
Ellis Miller said: “I was quite a late call up obviously. We didn't actually have any time in the week to practice just because of how last minute me coming into the team was. I definitely felt a bit of pressure – big shoes to fill with Sophie being the third boat usually. It was a really good run and I am happy with all of our performances.
Kimberley Woods said: “As Ellis said, it is the first time we have ever done a team run together. It was just making sure we knew the water well, we knew how to paddle this course – we are all good on this course – so it worked well enough to get that gold medal.”
Straight after the women's canoe team competition came the men's and Burgess, Westley and Kettle threw the challenge down to the rest of the field as they went under 100 seconds as the fourth of 16 teams to go.
With just Argentina, Uzbekistan and the USA having gone, a strong top section from the trio already put them seven seconds into the lead and they then gained even more time as they, like the British women's canoe team, went impressively clean themselves.
They clocked a time of 99.20 but by that point there were another 12 nations still left to tackle the course and, while buoyed by their performance, it still wasn't entirely clear where Burgess, Westley and Kettle would end up.
Two teams later and the Brits were pushed into second after France clocked 99.17 but that wasn't a sign of things to come as nation by nation came and went with the British trio still remaining in second.
It would turn out that not a single other team came within a second of either France or Britain with Burgess, Westley and Kettle remaining in silver medal position at the end of the competition, Italy with a bronze a further 1.11 back.
Adam Burgess said: “I think that was a really good run from us. It was a really tight team race all round. It took some beating. It's a shame for us it was just 0.03 [away from gold] but we all did our job very well. We've got a tall man in James at the back doing a good duck for the line, maybe without him it could have been slightly more of a margin.”
Ryan Westley said: “I made a few tiny little errors but fortunately the lads managed to work around me – Adam especially made some good decisions on the way down and James showed some real quality on his home course. I didn't expect it to be that good but it's really annoying to get beaten by 0.03. After a start like this it just shows how good we are at home and how good as a team we are on this course.”
James Kettle said: “It was a solid run from all three of us and good decision making as has already been said. I'm really happy with it. It's good to get my head around racing. I have done lots of build up and it is good to get a run down in this environment.”
Just over an hour after winning gold, Franklin and Woods were back out on the water in the women's kayak team competition this time joined by Lee Valley paddler Phoebe Spicer as they went for a medal repeat.
With placings largely determined by positions in the event at the previous World Championships, the British trio were the ninth nation to go and, despite incurring a two-second time penalty for touching gate three early on, they were 0.54 up on the best time so far at halfway.
Through gate 13 that time had extended out to 0.62 – a penalty at gate 16 would slightly impact their final time – but crossing in 109.02 placed them in silver medal position behind Australia with six nations to go.
The wait was agonising for the British trio, who had moved down a place to third after the very next nation up Spain, however they were still in bronze medal position right down to the final team in Germany.
Watching on from the side of the course, Franklin, Woods and Spicer jumped for joy as Germany could only manage the eighth best time as the British team claimed a third medal from the first three events at Lee Valley.
Kimberley Woods said: “With a team run, you know the course really well. Whether you are behind the ups a little bit more, you know when to judge the timing and how other people are on the course. We reminded ourselves of that. We are strong paddlers, we all did well at selections to make the team and the other nations will definitely be watching us later in the competition.”
Mallory Franklin said: “It was hard, especially my touch – it was so slight – and a little bit of a slip of my judgement, which I am a bit sad about and the effect that it has had. But I am really happy because it is a home worlds and there's pressure with that. I am happy that we put down a run and to be on the podium is pretty cool.”
Phoebe Spicer said: “It is my first ever senior worlds run and the winds didn't come to play. But luckily we all put down good runs. I got a silly touch as well but we were all pretty happy with how we performed. I came down to support [Mallory and Kimberly in the canoe]. It was nice watching the girls and them getting the win gave us confidence.”
The men's kayak team of Clarke, Bowers and Dickson were the penultimate nation of a sizeable field of 26 to tackle the course in the final event of day one – and got off to a fine start at Lee Valley.
Led out by senior team debutant Dickson they were tight and solid through the first half of the course. Dickson maintained that tight line however unfortunately in the latter stages they were adjudged to have missed gate 16 and given a 50-second time penalty. That meant they finished 22nd in 143.20.
How to follow?
Recast – 19 – 21 September
Recast will be available in the UK for the first three days of racing as the team events and canoe slalom heats take place.
From Friday onwards, Recast will be Geoblocked as the coverage transfers across to the BBC.
The International Canoe Federation announced this season they will be moving the live broadcasting of all major events exclusively to Recast, an innovative platform which will enable the ICF to further develop paddle sports into the future.
Recast is a live and on-demand streaming platform which will provide fans with the option to secure access to live coverage and events using credits obtained by engaging with content and products on the Recast platform.
Just by signing up to Recast viewers will gain credits providing direct access to the live action.
Fans can gain additional credit in the Recast platform by watching adverts, enhancing their profile, sharing content and inviting friends. In addition there is the opportunity to purchase credits directly.
Check out their FAQs here to find out more
BBC – 22 – 24 September
The canoe slalom semi-finals and finals and the kayak cross action will be live on the BBC Red Button and iPlayer.
FRIDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER
C1 semi-finals 1000-1210 BST
C1 finals 1330-1515 BST (not Red Button)
SATURDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER
K1 semi-finals 1000-1230 BST
K1 finals 1330-1515 BST
SUNDAY 24th SEPTEMBER
Kayak Cross finals 1330-1515 BST
Tickets
And of course, there's no better way to catch all the action than live at the venue.
Get your tickets now for the 2023 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships at the iconic Lee Valley White Water Centre from 19-24 September.
From as little as £1, join us and experience the thrill of the action as GB's top stars, including Mallory Franklin and Joe Clarke MBE, take on the best in the world on home turf.
British quota places for the Paris 2024 Olympics are up for grabs too.
Buy them here NOW >>
You can also keep up to date with the action on the British Canoeing channels, as well as start-lists and live results here from the Planet Canoe website