Teenager Tom Dolle stole the show at the ICF 2019 Canoe Freestyle World Championships in Sort, Spain, on Thursday, with the Frenchman winning gold at his first senior competition.

18-year-old Dole withstood a nerve-wracking final ride from reigning world champion, Dane Jackson, with the American coming up just short of the 960 posted by Dolle on his first run.

It was a nervous wait for Dolle, with Jackson the last paddler on the water.

“I can’t believe it, really,” Dolle said.

“I knew I couldn’t do better, but I knew they could do better, so I just had to watch and hope for the best. I’m super-stoked that we all finished so close to each other, it was a really tight battle.

“I don’t really train much in the canoe, but the kayak helps a lot for canoe. It doesn’t really matter how much training you do in canoe when you do kayak at the same time.

“Senior is so much harder, there’s so much pressure.”

Jackson left his best run to the last, and threw everything he could into the final 60 seconds. He posted 950 to take the silver, while his American teammate, Jordan Poffenberger, followed his canoe surface gold from 24 hours earlier with bronze with a score of 943.33.

Pics by Bence Vekassy