Angele Hug won France’s fifth title to top the medals standings as Great Britain’s Joseph Clarke created more kayak cross history at the International Canoe Federation Slalom World Championships in Sydney, Australia. 

The World Championships ended in stunning style, with Hug beating Camille Prigent in a French one-two and Clarke winning a record-extending fourth successive world crown in kayak cross. 

There were also medals for Czechia and Poland on a fantastic final day of competition at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium. 

Here’s what the medallists had to say after a super Saturday. 

Click here for live startlists and results from Sydney

Men’s Kayak Cross 

Joseph CLARKE (GBR – gold) 

It's incredible. Obviously, that was the aim when I came out here today, but there's a lot of rounds and a lot of good guys to beat to get there. So just building round by round, I think I had actually got more energy as the competition went through. I started rising to the occasion again and being able to perform under the big pressure at the big time. So that's good and I love the kayak cross. I just had to start sprinting, that really is the key on this course, and I obviously had that good ramp start and we also did a lot of training practice on that, so it seems to have paid off. I was really confident going in, but obviously there's a lot of things you can't necessarily predict in the sport, and I think I was just trying to cut out as many as possible and just do my game, which is getting out at the start and staying ahead. 

Mathurin MADORE (FRA – silver) 

“I'm very happy, maybe I'm not realising I have the medal yet. It was really a tough day. I didn't make the best run at each round so I didn't have the best spot on the ramp each time. But I made it through every run, and I finished second so obviously I'm so happy with this day. I was expecting a difficult competition. I think it's still a young event, the kayak cross, but people are improving every year. So I think there was a really competitive field this year from round one. Even the first one, it was really difficult to go through. So I was trying to stay focussed on each run, don't think about the medal, the final and so I'm really happy with it 

Matyas NOVAK (CZE – bronze) 

I'm super happy. I'm loving Australia. This is super cool for me and I'm so happy. It was a tough battle out there. I felt super good on the water and I tried to get a really fast start and almost every time I was first on the first stopper and then I just got pushed, it was a work out. Joe Clarke was just too good. I think if I wasn’t attacked from the back I could have caught him in the first upstream. But he's really good. I mean he's world champion four times in a row. 

Women’s Kayak Cross 

Angele HUG (FRA – gold) 

It’s super cool to be with Camille, two French girls on the podium. I think it's never been seen before at the World Championships. We were both disappointed with our slalom, but we had it in us, and we brought it out today. Before the race, I stayed focused, but I was still thinking about Camille. And honestly, at the finish line – if you watch the race – I don’t even celebrate at first. I’m looking to see where Camille is on the results board. When I saw that we were first and second, I thought, ‘This can't be real.’ Even now, I still can't believe it. 

Camille PRIGENT (FRA – silver) 

This morning, I was still crying from the disappointment of yesterday’s final. My goal today was to take it step by step and try to go as far as possible. Little by little, as I saw that both Angèle and I were moving forward, I thought ‘A little one-two finish would be cool’. And really, before the final, I was telling myself that we couldn’t let the Polish athlete win a third gold medal. That’s actually what I said to Angèle before the final. Honestly, since it’s Angèle who won, it feels like I won too. Actually, I think I might have tried the end of the run differently if it had been someone from another country in front of me. I told myself I didn’t want to risk taking both of us out. Two French women in first and second – it doesn’t get better than that. 

Klaudia ZWOLINSKA (POL – bronze) 

It’s unbelievable. Like, I don't really know what to say, because three medals at the World Championships is just crazy. Winning two golds and then getting bronze today, I don’t know what to say. Cross is a completely different sport, you know, like you need to be brutal, aggressive but on slalom be really calm, so for me, it's completely different and I did it again with the bronze today. It's really crazy, but now I'm super tired.