Edinburgh canoeist Eilidh Gibson best hope for World slalom gold

Capital canoeists Bradley Forbes-Cryans and triple champion David Florence are in action today, but Edinburgh student Eilidh Gibson is arguably Scotland's best hope of a gold medal on the opening day of the slalom World Championships in Pau, south-west France.

Eilidh Gibson

Gibson and her Great Britain team-mates Mallory Franklin and Kim Woods are chasing a golden hat-trick in today’s C1 team final after dominating the event at this summer’s European Championships and World Under-23 Championships.

“I’m feeling good on the water and really looking forward to it,” said Gibson. “The venue is really shaping up and it looks like it’s going to be an amazing event, so I’m just excited to get going.”

Florence competes in today’s men’s C1 team final before attempting to retain his individual title later this week. “I’m looking forward to racing again,” he said. “I’m just going to take it one run at a time and one gate at a time and look to perform the best I can.”

Forbes-Cryans also has medal hopes in the K1 team event alongside Olympic kayak champion Joe Clarke. “Hopefully I can get my World Championships off to a good start,” said the Scot.