Czech Lukas Rohan has qualified fastest for the semi-finals of the men’s C1 on the opening day of the U23 and Junior World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Rohan finished in a time of 92.63, more than one second ahead of leading local hope, Marko Mirgorodsky, in 93.70, with another Czech, Vaclav Chaloupka, third in 95.05.

Germany’s Florian Breuer, who is hoping to defend his 2016 U23 world title this week, finished fourth.

“It was a safe run, and now I’m on to the next run so that’s great,” Breur said.

“I’m looking forward to getting the chance to defend my title, but it will be hard because everyone else is keeping up. We will see what comes around.

“It’s a bit different now because you gain some experience, and you know how to deal with the situation with the finals, semi-finals and qualification, so you can be a bit more calm than the others.

“There is some pressure on you, but I like it.”

Breuer’s 2017 campaign suffered a setback earlier this year when he contracted a mystery illness, which led to him shedding a lot of weight in less than a week and missing senior selection.

“I’m not that happy because I’m not able to race World Cups and World Championships this year,” he said.

“But I got to finish my police education, so I got to concentrate on that. I will take my experience from the U23 Worlds with me, and next year I will be in the senior category and we will see what comes around.”

Czech’s dominated the junior C1 event, with Vojtech Heger quickest in 96.45, and teammate Matyas Lhota second in 96.62.

French teenager Alexis Bobon was third in 102.12.

In the U23 mixed C2 it was the Czech pairing of Jana Matulkova and Adam Lerch who qualified first.