There was triple gold for marathon powerhouse, Hungary, with Zsoka Csikos winning the women’s junior K1, and David Hodovan taking the junior C1 men’s title.

The easiest win of the day was posted by Denmark’s Thorjorn Rask, who turned down an opportunity to compete at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships so he could concentrate on winning the junior K1 marathon gold in Prado.

17-year-old Macintosh cleared out on the second lap of the 11.8 kilometre race and finished more than 30 seconds ahead of Poland’s Adrianna Antos, with Ukraine’s Maria Honcharova third.

“The portage is really tough, I’ve never done a marathon competition before,” the Canadian said.

“It feels amazing crossing the line, I could finally breath. I’ve always done sprint canoeing, so this was a new challenge.

“I feel great, I would definitely do marathon again.”

Hungarians dominated the next three events up for offer, with gold and silver medals in the women’s junior and U23 K1 events.

Csikos was part of a four-boat challenge for the majority of the K1 junior women’s race, before sprinting for home to edge out the fast-finishing Dorina Fekete, with Great Britain’s Emma Russell taking third.

“It was a very hard race, Dorina is a very good paddler,” Csikos said.

The second quinella came in the women’s K1 U23,with Zsofia Czellai-Voros and Lili Katona making a break on the third lap of the eight-lap 22.6 kilometre race, with Czellai-Voros proving the stronger at the finish.

“I’m so happy to have won, Lili came at me really hard which made it a very good race,” Czellai-Voros said.

“She was pushing me so hard, it was our tactic for the race. This was my plan for the day, and now I’m looking forward to the K2 this Sunday because I get to paddle with the legendary Renata Csay.”

In the men’s C1 juniors, Hungary’s Hodovan and France’s Leo Dunilac swapped the lead on several occasions during the 19 kilometre race, before Hodovan took control on the final lap to clear out to an easy win.

“I’m really happy because this is my first gold medal in a world or national competition,” Hodovan said.

“My strategy was to make a hard start, and then save my power until the end.

“I’m very happy, I can’t really believe it.”

Rask finished second in the European junior K1 marathon, but went one better on Thursday when he surprised his opponents with a break away after the first lap.

“My plan was to stay with the group as long as I could, and hopefully move away on the last portage,” Rask said.

“My plan was never to leave on the first one, but I just went. I thought they would catch me.

“I would have been happy with a top five finish.”

The 2018 ICF Canoe Marathon Championships continue on Friday.