Florence crowned world champion in London

David Florence admitted his delight after he was crowned C1 world champion for a second time in his career.

Florence took to home water at the Lee Valley White Water Centre – the venue where he won Olympic silver – after disappointment in the C2 where he missed out on a medal with partner Richard Hounslow.

But he didn’t let the disappointment get him down and a clean run saw him qualify for the final in fourth and he stormed to gold and also secured a Rio quota place.

“That was more like it,” said Florence. “I was really pleased just to get to the final again as it is always a fight to get there, but once you get there that’s your chance to deliver.

“I got into some real trouble to be honest around gates five, six and seven and lost a bit of an edge, tried to recover it and didn’t quite manage.

“I thought I had recovered it, but was pushing the wrong way and eventually got back on line and just had to try and re-focus.

“The crowd were incredible, there was an absolute buzz. I knew my teammate was in the lead and the rest of the course just went really well and it was enough to win by a very small margin, enough to become World Champion again.”

Elsewhere there was also something to cheer for teammate Ryan Westley who finished in the bronze medal position.

“Over the past 10 years that I’ve been doing this sport I have watching all the people, wishing that I could be mentioned among them,” he said.

“And I’ve managed to win a medal competing against them.  I don’t think it’s going to sink in for a while.”

The week was a mixed one for the British boats with no other individual medals arriving but there was two medals in the team events.

For the women, Lizzie Neave, Kimberley Woods and Fionna Pennie took women’s K1 silver and for the men Etienne Stott, Mark Proctor, Florence, Hounslow, Adam Burgess and Gregg Pitt won bronze in the men’s C2.

“The C2 teams is really intense – it's pretty crazy there's a lot going on with a lot of boats and paddles, and brains, having to work together,” said C2 Olympic champion Stott.

"We worked well together, but all credit to the French they had a great run it was a fantastic effort from them."

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