Joe Clarke MBE has claimed a top five finish in the men's individual kayak on day six of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
After finishing in fourth place in Tuesday's qualifying, Clarke recorded the fastest time in the semi-final with a clean run of 89.51, nearly two seconds ahead of the field.
In sweltering conditions in Paris, the Rio 2016 Olympic Champion was last to go down the challenging 23 gate course at Vaires-sur-Marne, looking to claim a second gold medal.
The Stafford and Stone paddler made a fast start, going ahead on the first split time in under 20 seconds. Clarke lost a bit time through gate 6 and back upstream through gate 7.
A quick mid-section and a lovely move around gate 12 saw the 2023 World Champion stay in medal contention
After a strong final section, Clarke powered through the finish line to take fifth place, just 0.95 seconds from an Olympic medal.
The final saw the paddlers step up the pace with Pau Echaniz of Spain going first and taking an early lead with a time of 88.87, before Giovanni de Gennaro claimed the gold medal with a clean run in 88.22.
Local favourite Titouan Castryck claimed second place behind de Gennaro, with Echaniz taking bronze.
With a strong run in the Olympic final Clarke, coached by Campbell Walsh, has another shot at a medal with the inaugural kayak cross starting on Friday, in which he is a three-time World Champion.
Speaking after the men's individual kayak final Joe Clarke said:
“It's canoe slalom. It's a sport to be consistent in. I've showed a level of consistency here this week.
“It's hard to pick out too much today. There was a couple of minor errors but I put down a pretty good run.
“I left nothing out there today. I'm not disappointed with how I paddled. Frustrated it's not a podium today but we have another big event to come and it's going to be a spectacle in the kayak cross.
“Four days of kayak cross. There's another chance for the medal. If I wasn't fired up enough already, finishing fifth today has really fired me up.
“It wasn't to be today. I kept a clean run. It was a phenomenal final so I can't beat myself up too much. We go again.”
Next up for Team GB is the kayak cross, with Kimberley Woods, Adam Burgess, Mallory Franklin and Joe Clarke in the time trials at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium tomorrow afternoon – Friday 2 August.
You can catch the Team GB canoe slalom/kayak cross team on Eurosport, Discovery+ and BBC throughout the day.
Further information can be found on the Paddle UK Paris 2024 website.
How to Watch
The BBC will bring you extensive coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics across TV, iPlayer, Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds, the BBC Sport website and the BBC Sport app.
Broadcaster Discovery+ is the rights holder for Paris 2024 and is showing every moment of the Games in the UK.
This includes ALL of the canoe slalom action.
Across the Discovery+ app and Eurosport channels in the UK, more than 3,800 hours of live coverage will be aired in total from 07:00 to 22:30 BST each day.
Discovery+ and Eurosport requires a subscription. You can find more information here.