Adam Burgess ends wait with Olympic silver for Team GB in canoe slalom

Adam Burgess claimed his first Olympic medal with canoe slalom singles silver at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in Paris.

The Stoke-on-Trent paddler, the fourth-fastest finisher from the semi-finals, put in a superb run save a small error on upstream gate 17, but recovered at the bottom of the course, crossing the finish in 96.84sec for the fastest run of the final with three men left to challenge.

Burgess was still sitting in the gold medal position when the home favourite Nicolas Gestin, the 2023 world silver medallist, left his best run for last. He destroyed the Briton’s leading time in 91.36sec, 5.48 seconds faster than the runner-up, with Slovakia’s Matej Benus rounding out the podium.

It was redemption for Burgess, who avenged his maiden final from three summers ago in Tokyo, where the now 32-year-old finished fourth and missed out on a medal by just 0.16sec.