Joe Clarke won his third consecutive kayak cross world title and Kimberley Woods her first as Great Britain made a clean sweep of the gold medals on the final day of the ICF World Championships in Lee Valley, London, on Sunday.
A big crowd was on hand at the 2012 Olympic venue to lift the British paddlers to double gold and to cement their place at the top of the medal table.
24 hours after Clarke celebrated his first ever K1 world title he was back on top of the podium again, surviving a grueling final duel with France’s Boris Neveu to add the 2023 crown to the gold medals he won in 2021 and 2022.
Clarke said he struggled to get back into his boat today after the euphoria of the previous day’s triumph.
“A lot of the times that I’ve done well at kayak cross I’ve had disappointment in slalom, so you get fired up and ready to go,” Clarke said.
“I was shattered this morning when I woke up. I just thought right, let’s just go for it. It’s been a dreamy weekend for me, it doesn’t get any better than this. Two gold medals, two world championship medals, my son was watching – I love it.”
Neveu took his third ICF kayak cross silver, while Martin Dougoud finished with the bronze, his first kayak cross championship medal.
Kimberley Woods also had difficulty getting back on the water on Sunday, but her roadblock was the disappointment of missing the women’s K1 final on Saturday. But after winning gold as part of Great Britain’s women’s C1 team on the opening day of the championships, Woods dug deep to take her first ever kayak cross world title.
“I was really disappointed after my K1 racing yesterday, pretty heartbroken, and I came in to today still pretty broken, but now it’s just incredible, to be a world champion,” Woods said.
“I felt pretty nervous as the runs went on. There was just a moment when I felt, this is awesome, just so happy to have been here.
“I struggled to sleep a bit, but I used all of my skills through all of my journey through mental health to pick myself up. I was still teary this morning, even getting to the semi-final was really tough, but I just tried to enjoy it.”
France’s Camille Prigent won the silver, and Slovenia’s Eva Tercelj the bronze.
Host nation Great Britain finished the week as the most successful nation, picking up five gold, two silver and a bronze medal. Australia with two gold and a bronze was second, while France had one gold and four silver.
RESULTS
WOMEN’S KAYAK CROSS
- WOODS Kimberley (GBR)
- PRIGENT Camille (FRA)
- TERCELJ Eva (SLO)
MEN’S KAYAK CROSS
- CLARKE Joseph (GBR)
- NEVEU Boris (FRA)
- DOUGOUD Martin (SUI)
Pics by Antony Edmonds
