Rebii Simon and Anna Palmer narrowly missed out on the medals as they contested A Finals at the second sprint World Cup of the season in Poznan, Poland.
An impressive heat’s win from James Russell was the headline performance during the afternoon session on day two of the competition.
Just half a second separated Rebii Simon from a medal as the Elmbridge athlete put in a great battle during the women's K1 1000m A Final.
With Swedish duo Andersson and Lagerstam leading the way, Simon and Swiss paddler Widmer went head to head for that final podium spot.
Not much was separating the duo at 800m, with Simon slightly ahead, but her Swiss competitor found some speed in the dying moments to nip ahead, seeing the Brit finish fourth in 4:06.36.
It was another strong run from Melissa Johnson (Chelmsford), placing seventh in the same A Final in 4:12.33 after qualifying directly from yesterday's heats.
Anna Palmer (Reading) was also close to reaching the podium as she contested the direct final of the women's C1 1000m.
It was a strong effort from Palmer, but couldn't quite maintain her speed alongside the top three in the headwind as she placed fourth in a time of 5:02.70.
A bronze medallist at the World Cup in Szeged two weeks ago, Emily Lewis (Worcester) was back in the K1 200m A Final.
Lewis put up a good fight to try and make it two medals for the season, but her time of 43.29 saw her miss out in sixth.
A dominant performance from Tom Lambert (Lincoln) saw the 22-year-old emphatically win the men's C1 500m B Final this afternoon.
Narrowly missing out on the A Final yesterday, Lambert powered out the start-bucket to put clear water between himself and the remainder of the field to comfortably win in a time of 2:00.48, 11 seconds ahead of second place.
Lambert was back in action later on as he raced the C1 1000m heats.
Fighting for a direct A Final place, he just missed out in fourth place, but a great time of 4:16.68.
He said:
“The B Final was good. I just went out there to put down the best I could and set me up for 1000m later on.
“Overall I’m it’s great to win it. It would’ve been competitive in the A Final so a shame I wasn’t racing that. Knowing I can be competitive will set me up nicely for the U23 circuit.
“I know what needs tweaking, but I’m not going at my maximum. I’m in a great space so early in the season The U23s is my main focus and I’m looking to perform in those later in the season.”
Jonathan Jones (Fladbury) and Ben Phillips (Richmond) were back on course in the men's C2 500m A Final.
The pair put down a strong run to set their best time of the competition, finishing in 1:51.04 which saw them ninth overall.
Jones returned for the C1 1000m heats and will race the semi-finals alongside his British teammate Lambert tomorrow, after placing fourth in 4:23.05.
James Russell (Nottingham) emphatically booked his place in the men's K1 1000m A Final with a great fight back in his heat.
Russell showed his marathon endurance to produce a brilliant backend after sitting in the mid field at the halfway stage. The 26-year-old powered his way through the pack in the remaining 300m to get ahead of race leader Zhang (China) and take the win in 3:47.17.
Delighted with his race win, Russell said:
“I'm over the moon with that performance. The face I've won means I have one less 1000m race tomorrow. Makes my day a little less busy to focus on the final and the 5km final too.
“I had to race to my strengths. There was a slight headwind today so the times were a bit slow, adding about 15 seconds to a race which suits me because I've got the big fitness base from my marathon background.
“I got to 500m and made sure I had a big hit to finish. 300m to go I timed it to go hard and did enough to get straight into the A Final. Really happy.”
He continued “I was third fastest in the overall standings today. I plan to use the same tactics tomorrow and see where I stack up.”
Izzy Evans (Chester) will be in semi-final action early tomorrow morning after finishing fourth in her women's C1 200m heat.
Back in international action after racing the first World Cup in Szeged, Evans clocked 51.58 to progress to the semi-finals.
Emily Lewis returned to the course during the afternoon as the Tokyo 2020 Olympian was in K1 500m action, as was British teammate Lucy Lee-Smith (Norwich)
A top six was needed from the pair to ensure they were in tomorrow morning's semi-finals and they both comfortably booked their spots, with Lewis finishing fourth in a time of 1:59.28, whilst Lee-Smith claimed the same result in 2:03.68.
Afton Fitzhenry (Belfast) rounded off the British action from day two as she booked her place in tomorrow's women's C1 500m semi-finals. In her first race of the 2024 season, Fitzhenry placed fourth in a time of 2:29.23.
The full results and start list can be found here
How to watch
Planet Canoe YouTube channel members will have exclusive access to live coverage of all the major International Canoe Federation events in 2024 for £8.99 a month.
Sign into YouTube, or create an account, and click JOIN to watch uninterrupted live coverage of the world's best paddlers competing for top honours.
Sign in to YouTube, or create an account
Go to Planet Canoe's channel
Click ‘JOIN' and fill out your payment details
After becoming a member, you will have access to the exclusive members tab and can watch members-only content.