Olympic champion Joe Clarke conquered tough conditions and a qualifying scare to secure a first-ever K1 World Cup gold in Poland.
Clarke’s first senior individual medal came at World Cup 5 in 2014, the gateway to an illustrious career that culminated in gold at Rio in 2016.
But World Cup glory eluded him until this weekend, when a virtuoso early run of 76.93 helped him outlast Czech racer Jiří Prskavec and two-time World Champion Peter Kauzer.
“I’m absolutely made up,” said the 25-year-old.
“It’s been a good weekend and I’m really happy to get my first World Cup win.
“I felt consistent throughout the rounds, although I only scraped through the semi-final.
“I was really happy with my run in the final, the conditions held and it was a good time on a tricky course.”
The Stoke-on-Trent speedster nearly missed out on the final, a touch on the last gate in the semi-final seeing him squeeze through as ninth out of ten qualifiers.
Clarke, second down the course, could have been unsettled by swirling wind and pouring rain but made a smooth start through the first five gates nonetheless.
He executed an impressive spin through the seventh gate, negotiating the change of flow between the tenth and the 11th obstacles to claim victory.
Clarke has been in fine form of late, following up a fourth-placed European Championships finish in the K1 team with bronze in the first leg of the World Cup in Liptovsky last week.
It has been a golden weekend for Britain in Poland, Clarke’s K1 victory completing a clean sweep of men’s events after David Florence’s C1 gold on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Bradley Forbes-Cryans posted 80.43 later in the K1 final and improved on a 9th placed return in Liptovsky by claiming fifth.
The team head to Augsburg next weekend – the third of five World Cup stages – full of confidence.
“I’ve been training well recently and it’s always good to convert that into racing,” said Clarke.
“We’ll move on to Germany now, refresh, go again next weekend and fingers crossed for another podium.”
Elsewhere Kimberley Woods stormed through qualification for the C1 women’s final in first place, only for weather conditions to restrict her to a ninth-placed finish. Sportsbeat 2018