Canoe star Joe Clarke finds happiness in silver

Having stormed his way into the gold medal race at Vaires-sur-Marne, the Stone canoe slalom star was the big favourite to claim kayak cross gold and become a two-time Olympic champion, following his victory in the K1 class in Rio eight years ago.

Ultimately, it was not to be. One poor start is all it took to scupper his hopes when it mattered most, New Zealand’s Finn Butcher going on to take victory, with Clarke battling back to take second place.

Such is the way in the chaotic world of kayak cross, a discipline making its debut at these Games and in which Clarke is a three-time world champion. Few know better than the 31-year-old how fickle fortunes can be.

"Did that go to plan? Absolutely not,” he said. “You’ve seen Noah Hegge from Germany came straight into my lane, so I couldn’t get the great starts I’ve been having through all the rounds.”

Clarke admitted missing out on gold made things a “bit bittersweet” before adding: “If you asked me again in five minutes, I wouldn’t be at all.

"I came here for gold. I’ve got silver, which I’m very proud of. What a Games!”

There is a bigger picture here. Champion in Rio, Clarke missed out on Tokyo altogether after not being selected.

He described Paris as his “redemption” and with yesterday’s silver medal he believes he has put it to bed, particularly after finishing only fifth in last week’s K1 event.

Already his thoughts are on what comes next.

“We're just getting started here,” he said, when asked about his Olympic career. “I obviously missed out on Tokyo which was a big blow but we've bounced back from that and I've got a silver medal round my neck.

“There's definitely more to come and the enjoyment factor is still there. When that goes then we'll stop but right now I'm loving life."

Clarke, who became the second member of Stafford and Stone canoe club to win a medal at these Games after Adam Burgess’ silver in last week’s canoe singles, believes kayak cross has the potential to take canoeing to the masses.

There will be few who witnessed the thrills and spills it produced at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in recent days who would argue with that assessment. Joyfully random chaos might be the best way to describe it.

Not that Clarke, cheered on once more from the stands by wife Belle and one-year-old son Hugo, seemed to be having much trouble having cruised through the weekend’s opening rounds.

Yesterday’s knockout posed the prospect of three in little more than an hour as he looked to claim gold.

The quarter-final was scrappy and it was actually Spain’s Manuel Ochoa who crossed the line first ahead of the Briton, only for his celebrations to be cut short by an eight-second penalty which relegated him from first to fourth and out of the competition.

Clarke’s semi-final was a much more straightforward affair and he led from the front to qualify for the gold medal race.

But for once he was slow out of the blocks and despite battling past Hegge and Czechia’s Lukas Rohan, he could not catch Butcher. Hegge took the bronze.

Clarke, who had watched GB team-mate Kimberley Woods drop from silver to bronze in an attempt to win gold during the women’s final, admitted he had made the tactical decision not to take big risks at the final gate.

"I was catching Finn up but I was making the decision on the last up-shoot and try and take gold.

“We’d seen Kimberley in the previous round do that and lose her position and I thought I’d try and set up a silver and get that.

"I came here as a bit of redemption for missing Tokyo and I’ve certainly put that to bed. I owe it all to my family and my wife especially."