GB's Clarke wins World Cup gold in kayak cross
Joe Clarke won gold on his Olympic debut at Rio 2016
- Published
Great Britain's Joe Clarke won a first World Cup gold medal of the season as he claimed victory in the kayak cross final in Germany.
The 33-year-old benefited from the misfortune of compatriot Ben Haylett, who had crossed the line ahead of the pack in his first World Cup final, but was penalised for a fault and dropped down to fourth place.
"It was hard earned, there was a lot of scrapping out there," said Clarke, whose victory moved him second in the overall World Cup kayak cross standings - a point behind the leader, Slovenian teenager Ziga Lin Hocevar.
Clarke claimed his first World Cup medal 12 years ago in Augsburg and won the second of his four kayak cross world titles at the same venue in 2022.
He added: "It wasn't the usual style of win that I go for, the 'fly out the blocks and stay out front', but it was special to be on the start line with Ben.
"I'm hungry for more [at the World Championships] in Oklahoma. I know everyone will up their level even more, so the next few weeks are about refining our processes and hopefully the outcome will take care of itself."
Fellow Briton Adam Burgess won a silver medal in Augsburg in the men's canoe slalom, with Italian Raffaello Ivaldi beating him to the gold by just 0.07 seconds.
Henshaw leads gold haul for GB
In the European sprint and Para-canoe championships in Portugal, Charlotte Henshaw starred with two gold medals.
Great Britain finished second in the medal table, behind only Hungary, with five golds and three silvers overall.
Henshaw, a three-time Paralympic champion, had to set a world record of 53.49secs to beat compatriot Hope Gordon by 0.15 seconds to triumph in the women's VL3 200m contest.
The 39-year-old then beat fellow Briton Emma Wiggs to first place in the KL2 200m race.
Henshaw said: "It was about digging deep, trusting my engine and trusting the training, that even though it might not be pretty, I can dig in and get the job done.
"It's a real privilege to still be here in my 10th year racing at Para-canoe, racing with the girls."
Phillipson claimed victory ahead of Italian Christian Volpi in the men's KL2 200m.
"There was obviously a bit of nerves but it worked out in my favour," he said. "I just did the race I planned and went out strong."
Gordon and Wiggs later won further golds with Stuart Wood taking silver.
Gordon stormed to victory in the KL3 race, her first European gold, while Wiggs celebrated her 46th birthday by winning the VL2 race in 56.781secs.
Wood was a whisker away from gold himself as he finished less than a tenth of a second behind victorious Ukrainian Vladyslav Yepifanov in the men's VL3.
