Canoeing: Bradley Forbes-Cryans secures spot at 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Roslin canoeist Bradley Forbes-Cryans missed out a medal after finishing fourth in the K1 kayak final at the World Slalom Championships in La Seu d’Urgell, near Barcelona, but his consolation prize was a magnificent one as he qualified for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.

2016 gold medallist Joe Clarke was fully expected to claim the single spot in the British team for Tokyo, but he could only manage fifth place.

Forbes-Cryans still sat in bronze medal position when the last man, Jiri Prskavec, began his run, but the Czech was flawless and took gold by almost two seconds, shunting the Scot down to fourth. It would have been silver for Forbes-Cryans had it not been for a two-second time penalty following a clip on gate ten.

“It’s been a helluva journey and whirlwind of a weekend!” he admitted. “Ever since I was a kid, it’s been a massive goal of mine to compete at an Olympics. I had to go toe-to-toe with Joe (Clarke), and to beat the Olympic champion on the last run in the last event of the year is fantastic. I’m over the moon! That small touch on gate ten cost me a podium position, but fourth place in a world championship is really satisfying.”

Despite losing out on selection to Adam Burgess, Edinburgh’s triple world champion David Florence is on the reserve list for a possible fourth Olympic appearance after finishing sixth in Saturday’s C1 final. “I’ll keep going until Tokyo, but I haven’t given it much thought beyond that,” said the 37-year-old.