As well as his C2 class silver with Richard Hounslow in London, Florence had also placed second in the C1 class four years earlier in Beijing.

It was the latter individual class which reaped the greatest rewards again this time around as he held off Alexander Slafkovskiy of Slovakia and Benjamin Savsky of Slovenia despite accruing a two second time penalty in his final run.

Even with this penalty the 31-year-old from Aberdeen set an unbeatable time of 102.53sec to win Britain's first world title in any individual slalom event since 1995.

"We've never won C1 in the World Championships before so it's always nice to make a bit of history," said Florence.

"Within the sport being world champion is absolutely massive and to be able to say I'm world champion is amazing."

David Florence paddles rapidly to gold as he adds a first world title to his two Olympic silver medals


There was no doubt who garnered the most popular victory of the day however as Hradilek led home a thrilling 1-2 finish in the K1 for the Czech Republic to the delight of the home fans.

Despite being also awarded a two second time penalty for brushing a gate the Olympic runner-ups time of 94.52 still left him over a second ahead of teammate Jiri Prskavec

With two competitors remaining there were some nervous moments for the home supporters but although last-to go Mateusz Polaczyk of Poland came perilously close, he had to be content with third place in the end behind the home duo.

The most triumphant victory however undoubtedly came courtesy of Australia's Fox who - after switching from the K1 category in which she also won Olympic silver - the Australian destroyed a top class field by a staggering 13 seconds.

Fox then added a second title in the team event along Rosalyn Lawrence and Alison Borrows.

With the home crowd left disappointed this time as the Czech Republic had to be content with a silver medal, Fox was so dominant that she left her two teammates behind and had to wait for them at the finish line.

Vavrinec Hradilek delighted the home crowd by leading home a 1-2 finish in the K1 world championship final, although Australia ensured that the host nation won only one gold medal


Elsewhere, Slovakia emerged on triumphant in the men's C1 team event while an Italian team, including the man who beat Hradilek in winning Olympic gold in Daniele Molmenti, took the K1 title.

The championships conclude tomorrow with five more events, including the women's K1 and the men's C2 individual events, with the latter event offering a chance for Florence to win a second title with London 2012 partner Hounslow.