On Saturday, Britain's Joe Clarke won his fourth consecutive men's Kayak Cross title at the Canoe Slalom World Championships held in Sydney. He matched the record of all-time for men's individual world titles.

Clarke, 32 years old, has taken a break from the sport since he missed out on the gold medal in kayak cross at the Paris Olympics last year. However, he has shown his class once again in the all action discipline.

Clarke, who had crashed from the starting ramp in first place, forged ahead and kept leading France's Mathurin Maadore, Czech Matyas Nako and Belgium's Maxime Aubertin.

Madore won the silver medal, with Novak taking third place.

Clarke said, "It is incredible" after missing the start of this season due to the birth of his 2nd child.

"Obviously (winning gold was my goal when I came here today), but there are a lot more rounds and many good guys to defeat to get there. Just building round by round I actually felt more energetic as the competition progressed.

"I came here today to prove a point and I believe I have done that."

Clarke, who has five gold medals in the world, including the K1 title he won in London in 2023 and a silver in his career in the individual events of world championships, is now tied with Jon Lugbill from the United States for the most successful male paddler.

Angele Hug, who finished second in the women's cross kayak race last year, has won gold for France.

(source: Reuters)