Stott proud of strength in depth among British canoeing

Manchester-born Stott powered to 2012 glory in the C2 with Tim Baillie and also has three World Championship and four Europeans medals, including one gold, in his trophy cabinet.

Britain won gold and silvers in both the slalom and sprint disciplines at Rio 2016 and three medals, including two golds, at last year's World Canoe Slalom Championships.

Double Olympic sprint medallist Jon Schofield spearheads Britain's challenge in the upcoming World Cups, in Szeged from May 18-20 and Duisburg from May 25-27.

And Stott waxed lyrical about the level of professionalism and commitment to the cause shown by a multitude of athletes in Britain's boats.

"The British team is enjoying a period of extraordinary period of good, young capable athletes – we've got a squad which is developing across all the different disciplines," said 38-year-old Stott.

"It's a crazy business but we're loading the bases to be successful in more than one category.

"It's a credit to the programme – it's worth saying that we also have some older athletes who are still delivering at a high level and demonstrating the standards and behaviours needed to be successful.

"We have great depth coming through the development programmes as well. I was recently involved in the junior selection trial and I was really impressed with their professionalism their levels of performances, their understanding if the sport was really high and it bodes really well for the future of the sport."

Stott was speaking at Nottingham Building Society's workshop day for young SportsAid athletes who benefit from funding to help their burgeoning careers.

As a SportsAid ambassador, Stott gave advice to the young starlets on how best to approach training and competition and balancing life as an athlete.

And Stott has now challenged the youthful names in Britain's canoeing ranks to seize their opportunities when they can.

"I would hesitate to pick any single name out of the that because one of the interesting things is you will see it's up to the athletes to pull themselves out of it," he said.

"It's really up to them to take the opportunities in the big races and produce performances that reflect their ability.

"I remember when I was a young athlete, I couldn't wait for the older athletes to retire and make space for me! I'm sure that hunger is there among those young athletes."

Sportsbeat 2018