Great Britain and Slovakia overcame defending champions to take top honours in the canoe teams events at the International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom World Championships in Oklahoma City, United States.
France, led by Olympic champion Nicolas Gestin, were hoping to register a third successive victory in the men’s canoe teams.
Click here for the live start lists and results from Oklahoma City
But Great Britain, who finished runners-up to the French team in 2023 and 2025, finally came out on top with a brilliant run to edge their rivals.
Czechia were also bidding to retain the women’s canoe teams title but had to settle for silver as Slovakia prevailed in Oklahoma City.
After topping the canoe single heats earlier in the day, Gestin was looking in fine form and hoping to add another gold medal to his collection.
The French trio of Gestin, Yohann Senechault and Jules Bernardet were in a good position to snatch gold from Great Britain again only to suffer a two-second penalty after touching the final gate.
The mistake proved pivotal as they clocked 93.54, finishing just 0.35 off the British team.
Ryan Westley, Adam Burgess and Peter Linksted were victorious in 93.18.
Germany’s Lennard Tuchscherer, Timo Trummer and Sideris Tasiadis came third in 95.60.
“It’s the first time any of us can call ourselves world champions so it means a lot,” said Westley.
Burgess added: “Ryan and I have been teammates for quite a while now.
“We have paddled in these positions multiple times over the year and we are comfortable with where we go.
“Last year, we had a tactical change that really paid off for us with a change in the order and today with me getting away at gate seven really paid off.”
Slovakia dashed Czechia’s hopes of securing back-to-back women’s canoe teams crowns with a superb performance.
Zuzana Pankova, Sona Stanovska and Emmanuela Luknarova combined brilliantly for a time of 105.16 to seal gold for Slovakia.
Czechia’s Tereza Kneblova, Martina Satkova and Adriana Morenova finished just 0.23 off Slovakia as they came second in 105.39, while the bronze went to France’s Angele Hug, Doriane Delassus and Marjorie Delassus in 105.81.
“We are really happy that we made the best run that we could and it was enough for the gold so it’s amazing,” said Luknarova.
Stanovska added: “We were pretty happy with this run, managing the tricky parts really well.
“We looked at each other and we just knew that it would be fast and clean.”
Men’s Canoe Teams
- Great Britain 93.18 (0)
- France +0.36 (2 second penalties)
- Germany +2.42 (0)
Women’s Canoe Teams
- Slovakia 105.16 (0)
- Czechia +0.23 (0)
- France +0.65 (0)
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