15/06/2014 Canoeing: World Slalom Championships

Hello and welcome back to the Lee Valley can noon sla lop centre for

the fist of the World Cup series. During London 2012 this venue had a

golden Hugh to it. We thought we could win one medal, then suddenly

we had two. This is looking good for Great

Britain. That is the fastest time we have seen, absolutely brilliant.

This could be gold and silver for Great Britain.

My goodness, they have got a Silver Medal. Bailey and Stobbart are the

Olympic champions. There is no chance of that same 1-2 finish with

those crews in the men's C 2. Timbalely has retired from the

sport. Hounslow and Florence will be out on the water though, Helen

Reeves will be part of the team here. It is box office isn't it It

was amazing. It was an electric atmosphere. The racing was fantastic

and the ruts were, so no wonner people want to see this racing with

the best competitors here. So what else are on the men's side

are we looking for? Alongside David and Richard you have got Matt Lister

who races with Rhys Davies. And the women's side? . You have Mali

Franklin in the singles who has been on great form and you have Fiona

Pennie in the K1 women. What about this course? This is a different set

up to the Olympics? Yes, so they started moving the blocks round, so

they can replicate different features and make it technically

more variety for the competitors. Whennup say that, moving the blocks

round, when they turn the pumps off this goes dry and you can walk

round. That is the beauty of it. It mean you can reconfigure it and make

it different and refresh things and replicate courses abroad. How do the

competitors think about it? You have the top section, that gets them into

the run. It is straightforward. They set a downstream sequence, that gets

the speed in. We come down to the first big drop. This is where it all

begins. First move, nine, ten, tricky, water

in the face, you have to keep the line, you have know what you are

doing, then it goes into a tricky section. It is when you get this

close to it, you are glad you are wearing the safety cover. It is so

noisy, you can hear the power in it. Yes, when you are on it it seems

even bigger. On the lower part of the course it

is is this stopper hee at gate 18 which is the talking point It's a

particularly big stopper, at this point the biggest thing is the fact

you are fatigued. These guys are in pain here Their arms are solid and

you have to hold on to make ur shoe you don't make any loose mistakes.

You to get away to the commentary box, we will see both the C and K

classes, the K is kayak, with a twin paddle, and in the C, in the canoe

they only have a single blade, they have to swap that back and forwards.

We will start with the women's C1. Gibson. Great Britain. So the first

of two British challengers. Hails originally from Kinross in Scotland.

And a decent fifth in the Europeans. Looking nice an smooth. She lines

herself up for the first, gate six on course, sneaks the blade under.

Looking composed at the moment. She will line herself up. Glides off the

top of that stopper. Curling into the up stream gate, gate seven.

Getting the boat back running downstream. Lining for the next

couple of downstream gates. She will look to catch the curl on the

left-hand side of this drop. It will let it push he across. Good

anticipation, that is why she is a second to the good. Now the question

is to keep it going. She is coming to a tricky section. This is the

crucial section She looks controlled. Just glanced up and

knocked that pole. Drops down, still keeping the canoe moving, which is

encouraging. Again, a bit of bother there.

Losing a fraction of time adds she drops low and deep into that Eddie.

-- as. There is Loir's time. She can get this back. Carlin was not

particularly smooth or clean or fast. She is low there. One second,

two seconds, three seconds, four. You can see the time loss there. She

is having to push her body away, losing precious fractions again.

Only 18 years of age. So she has very much a future for this category

which one day may well be in the Olympic programme. That is why there

is so much interest in it. Coming down to look to take the

advantage. She goes into the lead by eight seconds, so much better on the

bottom than Loir. She looked composed through the whole run.

And Jess Fox on her way. Through gate seven. Clean so far. The World

Cup overall points champion of last season, the Olympic silver medallist

in kayak on this very stretch of water here, just over two years ago,

and arguably the best all round woman paddler and as I say that and

compliment her she makes a mistake! The 1.49 second he had might have

been giving away. However, we have seen a lot of difficulties further

down the course, so there is a lot of time to be gauged. She could pull

that back. She has experience, got high technical about. Jess does a

lot of switching, so she makes sure she has her strong side, so her

blade is on the right side. She is good at that. She has a bit of extra

power as well. She won the world title last year, now there is

Gibson's time. She should, despite all the failure, 1500ths. We know

that she could take a second, possibly more on this bottom section

and with challenges to come, she needs to build the advantage. A good

move there. Nice across the top. On the top of that stopper she waited

and pulled when she nigheded to. But she has just gone to the wrong side.

She will have to go back round. This is going to be a costly time. It is

either that or a 50 second penalty. She decided that she will go back

and round, which keeps her leg. But it is not going to deliver a smile

on her face. This is again, very untypical of Jess Fox. The current

leader still Gibson, and I tell you what, she has taken a big scalp.

Look at her face. Absolutely lovely! Whatever happens, she has notched

one over Jess Fox. Certainly, I mean this is where Jess just lost that

edge, she didn't quite push across the river into gate 20. Jancova, one

of the top Europeans. She just missed out on a medal.

You can see she has reasonable boat speed, but as soon as that, is that

a two second penalty? It is. The bough popped up there. Sat back a

bit. The tail went down and knocked that pole.

So Jess Fox may be in second place, she is the only paddler who has gone

down clean, but Gibson has the lead. Jess Fox in second. Loir in third.

That is the 1, 2, 3. Monica has picked up some pace. Now

she will look to line herself up. Put in a reverse straight there,

drawing the bough round so she can get the line across the stopper.

Pushing her bough up. She will look to push it away and get that rhythm.

The speed for the stagger sequence. And two seconds almost behind ailly

Gibson. And Great Britain still with Malorie

Franklin to come, the fastest semifinalist. The fans are getting

involved in this as well. Lory Franklin to come, the fastest

semifinalist. The fans are getting involved in this as well. . She got

caught on the stopper, giving away a bit of time.

This is going south as far as she is concerned. Another peddler to be

found out here. -- paddler. And 133.71. That puts her way down the

order. Now, Teng the first of two Chinese

challengers. This is the younger of the pair,

just 22 years of age. And finished a few years ago, four years ago in

2010 ahead of Jess fox in rankings, interesting to see the Chinese here,

good leverage and you can see almost two seconds to the good. So that is

a nice start. Found Hes caught up and bouncing through. We have seen a

couple of time, she is going to have to reset, recompose to make sure he

doesn't make any further mistakes. I have her four seconds down from

being almost two seconds up. We could see her, she could make up

some of that time on through this section where we see 14, 15 as time

to be gained and lost. At the bottom, 18, 19, we have seen a lot

of the girls in the final find difficulty at getting into 18 and

across. Stern got held there, that is another couple of seconds so look

at Gibson's time and you can see there, 84. She is what, seven

seconds virtually down on the British paddler who commands first

place at the moment. See the bough pop into the Eddie

line and drop into 18. She will have to push across on the back of that

stopper, getting caught again. Having to be patient and let the

bough released before she drives in. You can see the fatigue, if you

looka her shoulder, they are beginning to move horizontally, that

gives you a tell-tale sign of when a paddler is getting tired. The whole

core and body on this course. Coming through, 22, 23, and it is a fair

finish, look at that, from seven, she has taken the best part of

four-and-a-half seconds of that deficit away, so all credit to her.

That is a very decent finish and she puts herself into second place. Jess

Fox down to third. So Mallory. Not much older. Only a year or so older

than Gibson but a lot more experienced. Didn't have a great

weekend in the European, didn't make the final of Vienna. This is

different. Back on water she is more familiar with She is very technical.

She loves the big water, always has done. She was at Shepperton at one

of the Thames Wear, she had a bug for that what the. She is already up

on Gibson's time. A lovely move. She hardly had to put a stroke in, the

boat did it. The water pushes her across into gate ten. Slow on the

switch though, coming out of that gate, but looking to build on what

was a super season last year, you might remember she got the silver

medal at the World Championships and also was the under 23 European

champion, in kayak, very versatile paddler, she is looking to do what

Jess Fox does, command both disciplines. If she can keep this

run together she is looking good. Really smooth. Using the water. That

is a good cushion, but the lower section is no gimme, she is right on

the edge there. Good break out, nice and tight to gate. Keeping that

canoe going Last big cross, can she keep her boat flat. Dragging it down

there so she comes behind 19. A nice finish.

Inside 132.4. Remember that time of Gibson's included two touches. So

far this is clean. Really focussed. This last combination of gates

coming through here. It is going to be a 1-2 for Great Britain, and it

is Mallory Frank lip who comes through by almost ten seconds, to

take the first women's singles of the season. But what a great job by

Gibson today. Second place with Ten third. That is proof that that is

what happens. She kept it together, she kept her boat dry. She was

patient. Waited for the water to do the work for her and that is the key

because then when you get down to the tricky bits at the end when you

are fatigued, you have an extra bit of energy on some of your other

competitors. That will boost the whole of the British squad's spirits

to get a 1-2 in the women's Canadian singles. There is a very welcome

leaderboard for the British fans. Mallory Franklin, clean run, takes

first place on the podium. Eilidh Gibson, personal best in competition

performance and then Teng of China, and, surprise surprise, Jess Fox,

only fourth. That is shocking in the world of C1 Women paddling. It

looked like a fantastic run. It was good. It was very, very scary. It's

a tough course, and there were bits of it when I was panicking, but it

was ready difficult for me to calm myself down, and focus on the first

two gates. When I got through the first two, I calmed down a bit. We

have not seen you before at a big event like this. That must've been

very exciting. Just incredible. All the hard work over the winter,

everything, all my team-mates who have helped me, I'm just so happy.

Time now for the C1 Men, featuring David Florence, the current world

champion. By his own high standards, 2014 hasn't been the

best, but let's see if he can take inspiration from that amazing

performance in Prague last year. COMMENTATOR: Look at that.

He's produced one of the best runs of his life. Absolutely wonderful.

We will start with this man for Slavonia. They have put in a very

good squad performance as he undergoes the first five downstream

green and white So, Savcek, having negotiated the

first downstream data, without any penalty, in the men's Canadian

singles just underway -- data, the first of ten competitors. That

date. He's now going to come down the

first big drop of the course and use the water to go to the upstream

date. He needs the water to push across the river. He wants to be as

tight to these polls as they can be, driving the blade into the water,

keeping the rhythm fast but making sure his timing is right. Good

cross. Now, he's dropped off quite low fare. That will be costly to

him. That time loss in the upstream date -- gate. Was that a touch

there? Yes, it was attached by the bowel or not upstream gate. --

bowel. It sits on the back of the stopper.

Digging deep on the last few gates. Over the last few waves and

stoppers. I clean run in the semifinals but not to be in the

final here. 104.12. In fact, his time in the semifinals was 103.77,

so that penalty was very, very expensive. Nicholas, the overall

world champion in doubles, actually. He is versatile. He's quite a

strong, quite a thick body shape, very powerful. He has a short stroke

but likes to get lots of power into each of them, to get the line

exactly right coming into gate six. He takes a hit on that. The tries to

get the term right. One second, very possible. Gliding the boat, steering

it in. Looked like he was going to drop low but he bounced off the ways

a little bit and now he turns his boat, letting it dries. Jumping

through there. -- dipping drive. -- letting it dries. Drive. This will

be interesting. Remember, he was just one second down, 1.37, so he's

only lost a quarter of a second. As we have seen, it's possible to make

that up. That has set him back now. Three seconds to find on the bottom

section. He has to be patient and drag his nose down. The ducking

under the pole. He wiggles through that split gauge. Two more

downstream gates to go. This is a case of what might have been. You

can see how quickly is on the down section. But for that single touch,

he would have been in the lead and it would've been an interesting

challenging time, so he will be very disappointed with this because that

is the penalty which has cost him the lead and may ultimately cost

them a place on the podium. Benus, representing Slovakia. His elder

sister, she, of course, a world team gold medallist three years ago. But

now races for the United States. A good start from Benus. He

now races for the United States. A good start from Benus. looks smooth.

Keeping the pace on the boat. That's OK. Still in touch. A slight drop

off the pace. A nice cross. One of the best ones we have seen so far

into gate ten. Now setting himself up for this Steiger sequence. It's

important you get the lines right early on because if it goes wrong,

it takes time for the next one. Slowly, patient. He drives across

the back of the stopper, trying to keep as high as he can. Dropping low

there. He kept the canoe moving. This will be the tell-tale sign

here. Nor .73, a lot of good work but it's not over yet. The could

take the lead. That's good work. Nicely done. The bowel just pops up.

The clips that poll. From being ahead, behind, when he could finish

strongly here, this is not over yet. Slovakia heads Slavonia. Peschier.

Third at the moment. He had the eye on the line. He had the big drops

absolutely nailed, the best we've seen so far in this final. So, Benus

still leads but Florence is in determined style. A dynamic start.

He digs in the blade really deep. He will be so eager to get this one

nailed from the beginning. Digging the blade in nice and tight. Now he

lets the bow drop a little bit. He's away again. This is where if you

need to make sure he keeps the bow nice and dry. He lifts it through

the stopper. Linus himself up. All to the good. -- Linus himself up.

Can he build to the good. -- Linus himself up.

most technical. -- lines himself up. At 19, that will be the crucial move

for David. He looks totally in control. Here's commanding where the

boat goes. A little bit stuck there. He's kept it nice. Canoe was never

stop moving. Now 1.5 in his pocket. A bit too tight. Have to do an

adjustment stroke. Pushed himself to early into the upstream date. Half a

second behind now at this particular moment. The really getting behind

him. David is really pushing on. There is a dynamic, plenty of power.

Coming through gate 23. Benus watches on here. 97. A comfortable

4.25. Fantastic, got off to a really good start. Last time in different

sections were called to second penalty. His control was incredible.

David is very good. He gets the blade fully in the water. It's not

over yet. A few moments to enjoy from David Florence. But not that

one. There, he was to direct, trying to cap the fractions. Has he done

enough? So, Martikan, four times world champion. What's interesting

about this man is that, after a season with a back injury which has

plagued him, he has really come back. He was runner-up to his

team-mate last weekend in Vienna but looks by much like his old self.

Yes, he's always in control and looks calm in the water. He picks

his strokes so cleverly. In training, it looked like he wasn't

even trying. Less than half a second behind David Florence. It washed

straight through. A big loss of time. He's not a big guy. Just 174

kilos. The way he moves about, all these years have gone by now and

people have been catching him up but it's amazing how, aged 35, you can

still be competitive in this class. A two second penalty there over the

stopper. A nice execution into the upstream gate. Seven seconds. I

don't think even the great Martikan can catch this sort of deficit up or

indeed as head competitors from the podium. Nice and tight over the

exit. Florence was quick down the exit. Martikan will be as well.

97.87, the running time for Florence. As you can see there, into

second place. Very deceptive again. He was trying to cut the line. A two

second penalty. Following that dropping low in the gate ten, that's

what cost him. Confirmation, the Canadian singles men. Great Britain

take the first World Cup of the season. Martikan had a solid second,

and then Benjamin, he takes third place but look at that cover all the

way down the final, not a clean run on the Olympic track. After those

results, were published, one of their penalties was appealed to

upheld by the judges so he moved into silver. Martikan, the bronze

and Benus, third. How do you assess that race? It was very hard. It

didn't go perfectly by any stretch of the imagination. I was tied

around a few gates but I knew it was going to be hard for everyone. I'm

really, really pleased. Isn't the kind of cause which rips apart?

Definitely. It's very, very good water, very hard. Of course, we

train here all the times I have an advantage, but we didn't hold back

today. The gates were in tricky positions. A lot of guys struggled

more in the final than you would expect. Fortunately, I held it

together really well. The crowd here in Lee Valley unloving these events

and, this glorious weather. Time now, though, for the K1 Women.

Sadly, no British in this one but look out for Jess Fox from

Australia, who will be keen to make up for her mistake early on in the

C1. Corinna Kuhnle. Not so good on home

water last weekend. Only 13th in the European Championships but looks

brighter and more focussed this weekend.

She is a strong paddler, she normally makes sure she is

dominating it. It will be key on this really powerful whitewater

course Attlee valley. Off to a good start. Kept the boat driving nicely

as she slides into the first of the six up stream gates. Important

things to look out for Helen. Keeping the boat moving and keeping

the deck of the kayak dry. Certainly. When we see a lot of

water over the top it looks like they are getting hit by the

whitewater, that means that fractions of time are being taken

away, they are having to work harder as well. That was a good move. But

under the pole, she needs to start lining herself up for this tricky

downstream stagger sequence. Nicely placed, the bough is right

under the poles at gate 15. That was well executed. Didn't lose any time.

She is, look 3.45 seconds up, she is on a really good run, we can see,

there is a lot of time to be lost here, she snuck in and under 18.

This is looking very smart indeed. Looks to have plenty of strength, oh

and got tied up. Oh, well, about two seconds given away and another two

for the touch on the pole. That is the big difference, she will still

be in first place, but that is uncharacteristic for the two time

World Champion sand she will kick herself, because this is a very

beatable time. There, 111.03 and of course she takes the lead.

We did see a lot of mistakes this morning and here she broke out too

early in the eddy, it is difficult because you lose speed. You have to

do the best you can. As you said, lost two seconds of time in the

process too. Jana Dukatova, she is the reigning

World Cup champion from last season. The points leader. She has long

lever, and often you sense she is not going as fast as she really is.

-- levers She uses them and her paddle placement is very often so

accurate. She is technical and she is waiting. That is a key to her

style. She places that blade where she wants to. Pulling it round that

pole. A lot of the competitors in life,

she has lived in the shadow of the multi-Olympic world and European

champion who failed to qualify for in final along with the recent

European champion. She got bounced off the curl. She wanted to drop low

into gate ten. She needs to refocus. We have seen so many mistakes and

there are points where you can gain that time and make that deficit up

further down. Getting a bounce there by the water.

She is not in control of the kayak as we would wish to see. It is out

of character. She has got her boughs up and underneath that gate 15. It

can be deceptive. That is one of the crux move, 14, 15, she is 4.62 down

the split but we have seen that time lost on the bottom section, but if

she nails it and keeps the momentum, she needs to pop across on the top

of the wave. Keeping control with the blade in the water. This needs

to be millimetre perfect to try and... Oh, again, gymnastically but

it takes time, and at the moment, still Corinna Kuhnle, 111.03, the

Austrian double World Champion, but look at the time. She has eaten some

of that disadvantage back. At the end of it all, there it is, that is

if only what might have been run. So Jasmin Schornberg for Germany.

She gets criticised for being tentative in the way she paddles,

but on this course that could pay dividends. A bit of patience here

and there often is very much to the good on this course. She is gliding

at the moment. Getting her boat running on top of the water rather

than taking the big hits. A nice up stream gates. She slides across the

whitewater. She almost has her boat dancing. It looks light. World

Champion back in 2009. Finished fourth in the Europeans last

weekend. Plus 3.7 so a third of a second to find. That is very doable

But bounced off the way didn't get the line right and dropped to the

bottom of the eddy. That is costly. Three seconds or so.

Jasmine one of a strong German paddling squad for the women. They

have a factory for women's kayaks in Germany. They have been strong for a

number of years now, in the kayak women, you see her holding on to the

stroke. This is one of the best we have seen. She is still behind

Kuhnle but by how much? Sicked -- six seconds. She has the chance to

reduce that and get on the podium. Kuhnle, Dukatova. The water is

catching on her tail. This is where Kuhnle got into trouble. She has

kept the momentum. It is about focussing to get the last three

stagger sequence right. Got to go for this. Come on. 111.03. And you

can see, she is more than a gate behind, past the time of Kuhnle. But

that two second penalty, how expensive is that? She has gone into

third place. Here is 22-year-old Lu Li for China.

third place. Here is 22-year-old Lu She was second in April, over in

Australia in this under 32 World Champions. Won by Jessica Fox who

will follow her. Neat and tidy through the first up stream gate,

sorry downstream. This is where she lines herself up. Slides in, one big

stroke and she wants to push back out into the flow.

Maybe not looks as fast as she did on her semifinal run: : Run. I think

that was OK. That was a little water or wind movement, I don't think she

had a touch. That is OK. So far so good.

. That is one of the better ones we have seen. Tough move that gate

nine, ten. This leads into 14, 15, a tricky move. It is important to get

it right. She is looking powerful. You are seeing her reaching out.

Driving the blades into the water. Dealt with the drop well and still

keeping the kayak moving. Just a bit slow there. Now, there is Kuhnle's

time is she still on terms? Yes, by 0.2. This will be a fantastic

achievement for her, if she can take the lead here.

Choppy slightly low. I am not sure if she clipped the Poulton exit. She

was tight to it. She did, she clipped it on the exit. She got too

tight. Kuhnle lost a lot of time here. She can still make the podium

here, Lu Li. You can sense the fatigue there, just a bit. Coming

down, but look at the time there, there is a terrific run, lots of

determination, lots of focus, and by 0.39, despite the penalty, Lu Li of

China goes into the lead. She is only over here for this competition.

The whole Chinese squad go back for only over here for this competition.

a two month preparation to the Asian games. It was a well executed run.

This course is tricky and there is so many big moves and the designer

have put out a difficult course to test them.

The Olympic -- Olympic silver medallist Jessica Fox, she will be

20 on Wednesday, yesterday was a bad day at the office, this morning,

completely different athlete in the semifinals.

She needs to set up so she can drive downstream through the split gate.

That will lead her into the first two up stream gates on the course.

She is pulling up and now a set up for the second after gate seven.

Tight round the poles, that is nice, one stroke she is back out into the

flow. Good line. The patience paid off as

she gets one of the highest lines we have seen into gate ten. She pushes

back out and this is where she starts lining lining Herr up. Into

back out and this is where she 14, 15. -- herself up. If she can

nail this she will set herself up for a top position.

Neither of her famous parents here, they are watching on television

Richard, her dad, Fife times world kayak champion, Miriam her mum World

Champion and Olympic bronze medallist.

Three seconds, lovely cushion to have, but you could easily lose this

here with a penalty. Oh. A bit low there, she needs to

push out on the top of this pile. Wants to make sure on this. Nicely

done. Chasing Lu Li, Corinna Kuhnle second, Jana Dukatova third.

This is good paddling. That was beautifully anticipated. Measuring

up, this is the winning run. Surely. Comes down here, inside 110.64 and

111.18. Well how deceptive is that bottom section, I thought she was

sure to make it and it shows you how good Lu Li was on that section.

sure to make it and it shows you how was, she was very good. Lu Li was

good throughout the whole course, she kept the boat running. Jessica

lost time in that second to last gate when she dropped low.

So there it is confirmation by just over a third of a second, Lu Li of

China from the double World Champion Corinna Kuhnle, Jessica Fox only

third, Dukatova off the podium. You can see only Jess fox and Dukatova

managed to go clean. The rest picked up penalty, so all the more credit

to Lily for that performance. -- Lu Li. Jess Fox. No Brits made it into

the men's final. Always nice at these world events to

run into canoeing royalty. It is lovely to see you, it must bring

great memory back Yes, the British crowd, the sunshine, this beautiful

course, it is magnificent and I would love to be out there but it is

nice to be on the side and reliving it to some degree. Tell us why you

are not. Your career is still on going, you are writing new chapters

It is on ice at moment. My crew mate Tim retired, in January, and I

dislocated my shoulder last year so we would have missed the season any

way because I have been recovered from surgery, I am having to sit

this year out but that has given me a chance hopefully to find a new

crew mate, get organise, back on an even keel and blast off to Rio. You

know Richard Hounslow and David Florence how will they do? I have

watched themmen every stage, through the heats and in their individual

racing, they have looked so comfortable, at home out here, the

course is so intense and powerful, you have to have that composure,

that moment of calmness where you can weigh up what is going on, they

have looking all over it -- looked all over it, they can race hard when

they need to and back an when they need to, their qualifying

performance was awesome, David was fantastic in his individual race, he

won it and well, I have high hopes for them, in the C 2s.

Let us see how they got on in the C2. Let us remind ourself of that

wonderful performance at the World Champions in 2013.

-- World Championships in 2013. Away go the Slovenians. Bozic was

outside the Away go the Slovenians. Bozic was

didn't qualify for Away go the Slovenians. Bozic was

partnership, eighth in the Olympic final here two years ago. Slipping

nicely through those first dates that gates. There are six of on the

course and they want to see them in the eddies as little as possible

because the boat is getting slowed down. 0131 for the reigning European

champions. That's the advantage. That is a nice break out, really

controlled. Look at the canoe. It never stopped moving. These two

active. The timing is good. Working well together. Working precisely.

You can see them moving their bodies back to get the boat decision on the

water to keep the bow drive. Nicely done. Their coverage on the blade to

three good that is very good as well. Not .38. They are looking

strong. Gliding across the water, a little bit low but there are keeping

the momentum. This is the key point here. Patient. And upstream gate on

the course, a tricky stager sequence to negotiate. Their angle made sure

they got through nice and cleanly. This is looking good. 107.79 was the

fastest time in the semifinals. Look at this. I clean run by the European

champions, inside 107 seconds. This is going to take a bit of beating.

Absolutely, they didn't give anything away. They were very tight

on the key moves, set themselves up nicely. Those tricky gates, they

made sure they didn't cut the line. It's a fine line as to whether you

take it so direct to make sure you don't lose any fractions or you use

more space and ensure you don't hit your polls. Here are the province.

They are cousins, actually. These two boys, who have lived in their

shadow, have never been to Olympic Games, were superb in the European

Championships last weekend on the podium and going well. Looking good

so far. Very much in control, dominated where they want the boat

to go. Not .157 ahead of the Slovaks, a big advantage at this

stage. Driving in. They drove it a little bit too hard. Suddenly they

are back to evens. That they can still build. This is where they can

lie on their boat up to make sure they get the boat position exactly

in the place they want to. They drive along the back of the stopper

here at gate 14, chopping off a little bit at gate 15. You can see

they are 2.32. This is still possible. It is still on the cards

here. Losing a bit of speed there. The boat speed just got killed by

the Eddie line. They drive in together to get the boat back in.

This is where they need to keep cool and calm and line the boat app well.

Good work there by Peter Skantar. 102.

At the end of it all, they didn't actually make anything on the

bottom. So, Slavonia lead Slovakia. The power being laid down there at

the right time to make sure they can push off the tail of the boat to

drive them back out. Germany always have good crew boats in the Canadian

drive them back out. Germany always doubles. Anton and Benzien, paddled

individually yesterday. Benzien was better of the two, finishing 13th.

Wiggling their way through the first gate into this first upstream gate.

Pushing off the wall. This course is quite wide and there won't be an

opportunity to push the blade off the concrete. That is the beauty of

Lee Valley. It's a cause which gives designers so much opportunity. Those

blocks which you can see, are like rocks, but they are movable, so from

race to race, all sorts of designs can be made. They are taking the

line straight there. They took a direct line to 11. Keeping control,

steering it slowly. Lining up for gate 14. Under the pole. Potentially

taking a two second penalty. So high into gate 15. The tightest we have

seen. These two Germans, they have been more effective in achievements

in the team races. Another good break-out, tight. Coming across.

They have nailed that one as well. You can see them working their

blades deep into the water to make sure they turn the boat as quickly

as they can to align themselves up my sleeve. Dipping their heads

around the polls. Losing a fraction of time but losing -- looking good.

106.57. A little bit outside. They go into second place. 2.26 seconds.

No major errors. Little bits and pieces. You saw them slipping wide

before they came into gate 22. Horizontal across the river. It's

interesting they can take away more time than you think they could. One

touch but, of course, still a lot of course, still a little bit slow on

the clock, so they wouldn't have gone into the lead had they been

clean. Great Britain have got, not only David Florence and Richard

Hounslow but these two youngsters, Rhys Davies, just 22 and sitting

behind him, Matthew Lister, 22 or so. Part of the Great Britain

canoeing potential programme. How good is that to make sure your in

the World Cup final? Absolutely, doing their home crowd proud. Lee

Valley has given us a new lease of life because it's such a great

course and exposes youngsters to Whitewater at a young age. A bit

wide there and catching gate eight. They were in Australia earlier this

season and finished fourth in the under 23 Canadian doubles World

Championships. A decent performance. That talent was out there, as well.

silver medallists. Nicely executed. Matthew keeping control at the back.

Very tight around 15. Four seconds down on the civilians. --

Slovenians. That's still a pretty decent run. Nice and tight in there

at gate 18. Into gate 19. The crowd are really getting into this. They

are on their feet. There's a lot of noise. Oh, what a pity. And another

one. That's four penalties. A loss of concentration after the first

mistake. And another one as well. What was a really respectable

effort, I still think is a decent effort and you take those

effort, I still think is a decent seconds off, it would've been 110

seconds and they would been in the top five. They will learn from

that. A good piece of top five. They will learn from

them. Absolutely. They are frustrated. They didn't push hard

enough at gate 19 and they made it very, very tight. This is the

opportunity for them to round off a very good weekend's canoeing for the

British squad. Florence upfront and Hounslow behind. Looking good so

far. They know this course inside out. Ducking away from gate four.

They are pushing hard now and they are going to drive their bal right

under the polls. Nice and tight. -- bow. Pulling the boat around, they

clipped the pole. David hit it with his panel, how frustrating. Plenty

of opportunity to gain more time. Remember, their time in the

semifinals was beaten by the Slovenians.

of opportunity to gain more time. Remember, their time in the 107.9.

of opportunity to gain more time. The Slovenians come in the final,

have gone more quickly, and they were clean, so this is a real

challenge for Florence. Looking good at the moment, steering themselves

into the tricky 14-15 sequence. Now, how much are they made of that

lost time? We are going to find out. Past the time there. It is not

impossible. This has got to be absolutely textbook. On top of the

pile now, driving in right around the back to keep calm. A tricky

downstream gate to go but we have seen a lot of time lost, though.

Slovenia have the advantage. Come on. 106.57. Can they do it? Not

today. Slovenia are going to take the honours. They miss the podium.

Germany and Slovakia occupy the podium today. The Slovenians, it is

an excellent run and to be inside Florence and Hounslow's time was

going to be hard to become the semifinals, and so it proved. I

guess, a little disappointment for the fans, but they gave it their

best. You have to say, hats off to the Slovenians, who take the first

World Cup Canadian doubles. Germany and second and the Skantar boys, the

European champions, in third place on the podium. Richard, how would

you assess that race? A little disappointing. The good thing is the

pace was there. The same as the European champions last weekend. For

us, it's a good thing. It's difficult to have touches and be

slow. You don't know where you are going to get the time from. A couple

of silly touches from us but a lot of positives to take away from it

and hopefully, go forward this season and the World Championships

in September. How do you think about running the rest of the season? Will

the C2 be the priority? You have the golden C1 to look back on. They are

of equal significance, we treat them both seriously. We would do more

training in the individual boats. Yet, we will be racing for the rest

of the season and look forward to it. It's not often you see a

downbeat David Florence, but Helen, they were disappointed after that

run, weren't they? Absolutely able to get on home territory. They

would've hoped to get on the podium and they are capable of it. Two

touches, too costly. It's about being fasting clean. We saw plenty

about those amazing British performances in the early events.

Check out some highlights from the medal performances. David Florence

obviously was on his game and looked fantastic. He commanded it

obviously was on his game and looked start to finish. And the two girls.

It shows good of element. Overall, for Slalom canoe, it's on the up and

up, building and building. It is. Consistency is so much better, the

medals are coming regularly. It just shows, the development is coming

through and we have got such a big variety paddlers out there. For the

home nation, the World Championships next ago another great event for

people to come and see. It will and it's brilliant for us as a nation

because we don't have many international competitions and to

have it so close to the Olympics is great. We are on the water again

before rolling this time. The rubbing World Cup in France. We will

see it live next Sunday on the red button at ten a.m.. You can catch

the highlights with John in the dale on BBC Two at four p.m.. That's it

from Lee Valley and from a sport which is slowly and surely becoming

a must see event.