British kayakers clinch World Cup gold in Duisburg

LIAM Heath and Jonathan Schofield gave Great Britain the perfect start to the Sprint World Cup in Germany, scooping gold on day one in Duisburg, Germany.

SUCCESS: Rachel Cawthorn captured bronze on a successful first day for Great Britain at the Sprint World Cup in Duisburg (Getty Images)

The duo, who were also victorious in Hungary last month, teamed up in the 200m K2 event and edged out the Belarusian pair of Raman Piatrushenka and Vadzim Makhneu.

The Brits raced home in a time of 0:32.8730206 seconds while bronze went to Danish duo Lasse and Casper Nielsen.

Meanwhile, there was further success for Great Britain in Germany as Ed McKeever and Rachel Cawthorn both won bronze in their respective K1 200m races.

McKeever came home behind German duo Ronald Rauhe and Jonas Emms, who took gold and silver respectively while it was also the host nation that edged Cawthorn into third with Nicole Reinhardt taking victory and Fanny Fischer securing silver.

On Saturday Tim Brabants, who has recently returned to the sport after winning gold at Beijing Olympics, will compete in the K1 1000m event.

The 33-year-old finished seventh in Hungary in his first major final for two years.