Each of today’s winners are already more than familiar with World Championship success; KOVER has been crowned champion six times, MCGREGOR now has seven world titles and CSAY has visited the top step of the podium on an incredible 17 occasions. 

In the blue ribboned event MCGREGOR looked imperious from the start displaying a level of confidence that seemed to suppress his opponents no matter how hard they pushed.

“It was a fantastic race against a top class field, the best of the best. To come out on top is a real honour, I’m really happy,” said the 38-year-old from Cape Town.

The race was tight with a large group only thinning towards the very end of the 29.8-kilometer course.

This played into the hands of the experienced MCGREGOR who took pleasure in performing to the crowd by demonstrating his speed both on and off the water in the latter stages as he sprinted across the final portage to then lead the last lap to the finish line.

Teammate Andy BIRKETT (RSA) also kicked late on and secured silver ahead of Portugal’s Jose RAMALHO.

The clock highlighted how tight the racing was with the top ten all finishing within a minute of the southern hemisphere’s showman.

Interestingly this was the first race of the championships where Hungary slipped short of the podium – Adrian BOROS (HUN) fell just shy in fourth.

In the K1 Women’s race, CSAY and her teammate Vanda KISZLI swiftly embossed the Hungarian trademark style on the proceedings as they worked together to ease away from the international field and swiftly reduce the lead group to four.

Jenny EGAN (IRL) and Kristina BEDEC (SRB) were the two survivors, and for a while they matched the pace of the Hungarian duo.

However, the elastic eventually snapped and EGAN swiftly retreated to the second group; meanwhile BEDEC managed to maintain a gap to the chasing pack.

With the race now at the business end, it became clear that CSAY had the experience to out maneuver her compatriot and she pushed on to secure gold.

For KISZLI it was her second medal in two days following gold in the U23 K1 Women’s race on Friday, but more importantly it underlined her position as the potential successor to her highly decorated teammate.

BEDEC held on to bronze repeating her efforts from the 2015 World Championships.

KOVER added another medal to the ever-swelling Hungarian tally – and his own – as he out-sprinted Spain’s Antonio Manuel CAMPOS to achieve top honours in the C1 Men’s class.

“It was a very difficult race, from the start we had a group of six then we gradually lost one each lap until we were only two. I was successful because I was the quicker finisher,” commented KOVER.

Following gold in the Junior K1 Men from Ádám VARGA (HUN) and another by the duo of Zsófia KORSÓS and Viktória Fruzsina NAGY (HUN) in the Junior K2 Women in the morning’s session Hungary now have an unbelievable 10 golds from 12 races.

For full results click here

Junior K1 Men
Gold – Ádám VARGA (HUN) 1:43:15.8
Silver – Csaba ERDOSSY (HUN) 1:43:20.6
Bronze – Augustin RODRIGUEZ (ARG) 1:44:06.8

Junior K2 Women
Gold – Zsófia KORSOS/Viktória Fruzsina NAGY (HUN) 1:29:59.30
Silver – Lilla BANKI/Csenge Virág REKOP(HUN) 1:30:34.8
Bronze – Eliska BETLACHOVA/Ludmila KOTEROVA (CZE) 1:32:26.5

Senior C1 Men  
Gold – Márton KÖVÉR (HUN) 02:12:05.8
Silver – Antonio Manuel CAMPOS(ESP) 02:12:18.2 / +12.390
Bronze – Nuno BARROS (POR) 02:12:40.6 /+34.800

Senior K1 Women
Gold – Renata CSAY (HUN) 2:06:56.7
Silver – Vanda KISZLI(HUN) 2:07:00.3
Bronze – Christina BEKE (SRB) 2:08:17.8

Senior K1 Men
Gold – Hank MCGREGOR(RSA) 2:20:11.6
Silver – Andy BIRKETT (RSA)2:20:12.7
Bronze – Jose RAMALHO (POR) 2:20:13.3