Luis Eiras/ Photo Duarte
Andy Birkett of East London delivered a marathon racing masterclass on Saturday afternoon as he became the 2022 world champion in Portugal.
He won a thrilling senior men's K1 gold medal at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships on the Lima River - bouncing back from an unusually poor portage to put himself in the ideal position for the end-sprint involving five athletes.
Birkett, who also won the gold medal at the World Games in the USA earlier in the year, produced the raw speed needed to streak past local hero Jose Ramalho and Danish defending world champion Mads Pedersen.
"There is so much depth and the level of racing is so strong," said Birkett afterwards.
"The whole way I was just trying to stay in contact and I thought that a podium would have been amazing. I thought I would even settle for fifth at one stage," he said.
Birkett and his team mate Hamish Lovemore were central to a six boat bunch at the front of the eight lap 29.8 kilometre race.
Despite having won the Under 23 world title 24 hours earlier, Lovemore shook-up the senior men's race with an impressive challenge and only faded on the final lap to finish fifth.
