Mallory Franklin takes gold for Great Britain, Benjamin Savsek clinches emotional C1 world title at Lee Valley

Slovenia’s Benjamin Savsek brought Lee Valley White Water Centre to tears with an emotional C1 World Championship victory, while Britain’s Mallory Franklin took gold in the women’s event.

The 36-year-old Olympic champion catapulted himself to a second world title at the London 2012 venue, setting fire to the white water in a blazing final run of 87.40 seconds.

Outgunning French youngster Nicolas Gestin to gold by over a second, Savsek showed just why he is fan favourite in canoe slalom with his moving celebration amongst a rallying crowd of friends and family.

Gestin was forced to settle for silver whilst Italy’s Paolo Ceccon added a first individual world bronze to his CV.

“This means a lot,” said Savsek, moments before he was engulfed by a party of tearful supporters. “I’m without words right now but it’s amazing.

“There was a lot of pressure having to go in the last position and I’m really happy to be a world champion once again.

“Thanks to everyone who supports me, I’ve had the best time.”

Savsek topped the rankings ahead of the final, posting a time of 98.09 seconds earlier in the day to ensure that he was last to drop for a medal.

A seasoned competitor, having graced the international stage for over two decades, Savsek admitted that he had no fear at the start gate despite having the destination of the title in his hands.

Instead, the Slovenian was calm, collected and most importantly focused ahead of his championship-winning run.

He added: “I was just focusing on the gates that I had to do and getting to that finish line.

“It’s all just about focus for me.

“I thought to myself, it’s just now or never and, here we are now.”

In the women’s event, a dramatic semi-final saw defending champion Andrea Herzog of Germany crash out of the competition after picking up a 50-second time penalty on gate seven.

Andorra’s Monica Doria Vilarrubla instead took top spot leading into the final, looking poised to take her first world medal in the C1 event.

But it was Britain’s Mallory Franklin who took home the gold in front of a home crowd, with a storming run of 108.05 seconds seeing her reclaim her 2017 title.

Fellow Briton Kimberley Woods finished close behind in silver, while Australia’s Jessica Fox claimed an impressive eighth C1 world medal.

“It’s really cool and I’m really happy to come away with this win,” said Franklin. “I didn’t have the best heats in kayak so I’m so excited to get back on the course and be more technical, taking away any learnings from today.

“We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”