Franklin claims European gold and silver in Slovakia

Britain's Mallory Franklin enjoyed a dream start to the 2022 season after completing the full set of medals at the European Canoe Slalom Championships in Liptovsky Mikulas.

The Olympic silver medallist followed up Saturday's K1 bronze medal by being crowned European champion in the C1, beating France's Marjorie Delassus by 1.72 seconds.

Franklin crossed the line in 1:53.35 to win the title for the first time since 2019 as Czech paddler Tereza Fiserova took bronze behind Delassus in a time of 1:55.77.

After winning a memorable gold medal, she said: "I've felt like I've been paddling really well in this race. It's great to come out and win gold. I am really enjoying my paddling.

"I love racing in Liptovsky and it's my first international race being coached by Rich (Hounslow) so I'm really pleased to deliver medal performances this weekend.

"I didn't know what time I had to beat, I was purely locked into my own plan and wanted to really deliver on gate two. Once you get past the drop and start paddling out of that section, you get a feeling about how you're doing.

"I was just pleased to deliver a good run in the end. I've spent more time in my kayak this winter as I am really happy with where my C1 is currently."

And the 27-year-old ensured she came away from Slovakia with an individual medal of every colour after securing silver in the extreme slalom - a new Olympic event for Paris 2024.

Franklin, who also claimed K1 team silver on Thursday with teammates Kimberley Woods and Megan Hamer-Evans, recovered from a disastrous start to snatch a brilliant second.

She said: "Extreme slalom is a crazy event. I just wanted to go out and get some experience in it, having not had too much previously. I really enjoyed fighting for places and working out tactics.

"Once you're in that final with three out of four getting a medal, when you come up in a situation like I did in flipping the boat, it's always worth fighting to get back into the mix.

"You're never out of it. With people faulting or making little mistakes I think it's worth fighting right till the very end. It's been a really good championships for me, a dramatic one and a long one.

"To come away with four medals, to build on last year with medals at both the Olympics and World Championships, to come away with one of each individually and a team medal is really cool. I am excited to see what is going to happen for the rest of the year."

Elsewhere, British teammate Woods missed out on making the women's C1 final while Adam Burgess was unable to progress from his men's C1 semi-final heat.

In the extreme slalom, 2021 world champion Joe Clarke finished just outside the top two qualifiers in his quarter-final as he failed to progress while Woods also had to settle for third.

And Tokyo Olympian Bradley Forbes-Cryans missed a gate in his quarter-final and the paddle back proved costly as he was left with too much to do to reach the next round.

Sportsbeat 2022