Brendel, the reigning Olympic champion, won gold at both the 2014 and 2015 World Championships and is unbeaten for three years.

The 28-year-old won gold at the International Canoe Federation-organised event by over a second in 3min 56.288sec ahead of Moldova's Serghei Tarnovschi in 3:57.582.

Czech Republic's Martin Fuksa crossed the line third in 3:58.171.

Tom Liebscher and Ronald Rauhe claimed the K2 200m spoils in 31.756 in a thrilling race in which they finished just 0.12 of a second ahead of second-placed French pairing Maxime Beaumont and Sébastien Jouve.

Britain's Liam Heath and Jonathan Schofield finished third in 32.256.

A third German gold came courtesy of Marcus Gross and Max Rendschmidt in the K2 1000m event.

They finished in 3:14.455 to beat Australia's Kenny Wallace and Lachlan Tame, in 3:15.189, and Ukraine's Vitaliy Tsurkan and Oleh Kukharyk, in 3:15.967.

Czech Republic's Josef Dostal won the K1 1000m in 3:34.361 ahead of another German star Max Hoff, who clocked 3:35.267.

Denmark's René Holten Poulsen managed 3:35.744 for bronze.

Brazil's Valdenice Conceicao Do Nascimento laid down the gauntlet ahead of Rio 2016 by winning the C1 200m in 48.260

Canada's Katie Vincent finished second in 48.838 while Andrea Santos De Oliveira took another Brazilian medal with 49.238 for bronze.

Other winners included Hungary's Tamara Takacs, who won the K1 1000m in 4:04.173 ahead of British rival Rebeka Simon in 4:05.351.

Irene Burgo of Italy was a distant third in 4:09.273.

Inna Hryshchrun and Anastasiia Todorova of Ukraine won the women's K2 500m while Sergiu and Nicolae Craciun emerged victorious in the C2 200m in 37.245.