Rose Wall claimed back her squirt world title and Taft Sibley’s love affair with the Columbus feature continued as the first gold medals of the 2023 ICF Freestyle World Championships were decided on Monday.

The battle between 2019 champion Wall and Great Britain’s reigning world champion, Ottilie Robinson-Shaw, lived up to its pre-event billing. Wall put down the ride of the day in the semi-finals, racking up a massive 2160 points, and carried the form into the final.

Wall focused on her high-scoring mystery moves.

“This is quite unexpected, but feels good,” Wall said.

“There are so many talented athletes here working hard, so I’m stoked to be here with the good water levels.”

Robinson-Shaw, who made history by winning three gold medals at last year’s world titles, showed off her technical skills on her way to the silver medal.

“I’m proud of my ride, I had to work really hard on my mystery,” Robinson-Shaw said.

“For me it’s quite a challenging spot, it doesn’t really benefit me and my style of paddling.”

Former medalists Tamsyn McConchie from Great Britain and Japan’s Hitomi Takaku had a strong battle for the bronze, with McConchie eventually triumphing.

In the men’s final American Clay Wright was chasing a fourth consecutive title, and his fifth in six years, but came up against three fellow Americans at the top of their game. Taft Sibley, who won world cup gold on the same feature last year, Andrew Grizzel and Justin Cullars.

Sibley and Wright both relied on long mystery rides, with Sibley earning the judges nod with a 49-second move.

“It feels really good, my mystery moves went pretty good, I got the longest, which helped a lot,” Sibley said.

Grizzel took the eventual silver at his first major international event.

“Second place feels pretty good, it ended up better than I thought at my first ICF competition,” he said.

Third place went to Wright.

The 2023 International Canoe Federation Freestyle World Championships continues from Columbus on Tuesday.

More information and live streaming can be accessed here.

Pics by Peter Holcombe