Florence and Walsh miss out at Euros

OLYMPIC silver medallist David Florence narrowly missed out on the podium in the C1 class on the final day of the European Championships in Nottingham.

EMPTY-HANDED: David Florence fails to reach the C1 podium at the European Championships in Nottingham (Getty Images)

Florence looked in the running for a place in the top-three after qualifying fourth fastest with a penalty-free run in the semi-finals.

And although the 26-year-old improved on his performance in the semi-final with a time of 98.02 seconds, it was only good enough for fifth as Olympic champion Michal Martikan of Slovakia swept to gold in 95.66 secs.

Defending champion Campbell Walsh and Huw Swetnam also looked set to compete for medals in the K1 class after qualifying second and fifth fastest respectively, but neither managed to impose themselves on the final.

Italy's Daniele Molmenti romped home in 92.49 secs with French pair Boris Neveu and Julien Billaut joining him on the podium with times of 92.93 secs and 93.43 secs respectively.

Walsh, fourth in a time of 96.13 secs, was understandably disappointed and believes the excitement of winning the team K1 event yesterday may have taken its toll.

"The whole run didn't feel good really," said Walsh.

"I was trying to put myself in the right position, trying to pull hard at the right points but it just didn't flow as much as it did in the semis.

"Winning the team run was awesome - I was absolutely buzzing all night but I couldn't get to sleep until about one o'clock."

Swetnam was more positive after finishing in a personal best eighth with a time of 100.21 secs.

"I was hoping for more," said Swetnam, "But the main thing was I wanted to paddle well and I did, for most of the week."

The British team ended up with four medals after gold in the men's and women's K1 team events, silver in the men's C2 team and a bronze for C2 pair Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott.