Time penalties costs David Florence a silver medal in Prague
Edinburgh's David Florence and the rest of the world's top canoeists were all caught out by a fiendishly-difficult course as the triple world champion finished fifth in the C1 slalom final at the World Cup in Prague.
The three-time Olympic silver medallist was eliminated in the heats at the European Championships earlier this month, and narrowly avoided another early exit in Sunday’s semis when he was the slowest qualifier in tenth place.
The 34-year-old Scot clocked 101.29secs in the final, which would have been good enough for a silver medal, but two clipped gates meant four seconds of time penalties and cost him a spot on the podium. All ten finalists, including German winner Sideries Tasiadis, incurred penalties with double Olympic champion Michal Martikan missing a gate completely to scupper his chances.
Roslin’s Bradley Forbes-Cryans was 18th in the K1 kayak semi-finals.