Canoeists Florence and Forbes-Cryans secure World and European spots

Edinburgh canoeist David Florence and his training partners Bradley Forbes-Cryans and Eilidh Gibson have all qualified for this summer's World and European Championships after achieving the results they needed in the final selection trials at Lee Valley.

David Florence has made the GB senior team for the 17th year in a row

Florence clinched his spot in the C1 slalom despite going through the event without a win. Tom Quinn pipped him on the final day but the triple world champion and three-time Olympic silver medallist still rubber-stamped his selection following two seconds and a third. I’m glad to be in the senior team for the 17th consecutive year,” said Florence. “It was a pretty consistent weekend’s racing, with just a few small errors.”

Forbes-Cryans was able to discard Sunday’s sixth place as only the top two results counted, and he qualified comfortably after adding a runners-up spot to his K1 kayak victory on Saturday.

“It wasn’t easy, leaving it to the last race,” he admitted. “One small mistake on Sunday meant I had to regroup, and it put pressure on me but I’m delighted to be back in the team.”

Gibson made it too in the women’s C1 despite missing a gate and incurring a 50-second time penalty as she finished fourth on Sunday.