David Florence regained his canoe single (C1) title at the World Championships in Lee Valley after having to endure a torturous wait.

The 2013 champion was only fourth fastest in the semi-finals with a clean run of 95.68 seconds but then led in the final with another clean run of 94.32 seconds, knowing he had to then suffer the agony of watching the three paddlers who posted faster qualifying times.

But, one by one, his rivals fell by the wayside. American Casey Eichfeld looked set to topple Florence but then suffered a two-second penalty when he touched the third last gate and clocked 96.54 seconds.

Michal Martikan of Slovakia was next up but he missed gate 20 incurring a 50-second penalty which counted him out.

It meant only Benjamin Savsek of Slovenia could deny Florence gold. He made a valiant attempt but was just a fraction of a second out, clocking 94.36 seconds for silver with Britain’s Ryan Westley taking bronze in 96.33 seconds.

“I was really pleased just to get to the final again as it is always a fight to get there, but once you get there that’s your chance to deliver,” said Florence, 33. “I got into some real trouble to be honest around gates five, six and seven and lost a bit of an edge, tried to recover it and didn’t quite manage.

“I thought I had recovered it, but was pushing the wrong way and eventually got back on line and just had to try and re-focus. The crowd were incredible, there was an absolute buzz. I knew my team-mate was in the lead and the rest of the course just went really well and it was enough to win by a very small margin, enough to become world champion again.

“Ryan was sat there in medal position whatever I did. We have a really strong team and there is going to be a lot of competition over the next few years.

“Rio selection is going to be a big challenge, but if you can get on and focus on your own performance you have a far better chance of putting down the sort of run you are capable of.”

It was a triumph for Florence, on his home course, after he missed out on a medal in the doubles with Richard Hounslow on Saturday, a touch on the last gate costing them a place on the podium. Fastest qualifiers, they had to chase a time of 101.17 seconds in the final set by Germans Franz Anton and Jan Benzien.

The British pair suffered an early touch on gate eight and it left them with a lot of work to do.

But they produced a bold effort before the touch on gate 22 ripped the bronze medal from their grasp and they eventually placed fifth (104.68 seconds).

There was some consolation with a bronze medal in the canoe doubles team event later in the day.

Kinross’s Elidh Gibson, competing in her first World Championships, finished a highly creditable fifth in the women’s canoe singles.

Gibson led the way with 124.72 seconds with four paddlers to go but was squeezed out of the medals along with GB team-mate Kimberley Woods, who was fourth.

Australian Jessica Fox retained her title and made up for missing out on a kayak medal with an impressive final run of 113.51 seconds.

There was disappointment for Crieff’s Fiona Pennie, silver medallist last year, in the kayak.

She qualified for the final of the kayak with the eighth-fastest time but was soon in trouble in the final when she touched gate three, suffering an early two-second penalty.

Pennie also touched gates eight and 17 to leave her well out of contention with a time of 120.02, to place ninth overall.

GB team-mates Lizzie Neave and Kimberley Woods finished seventh and tenth respectively on a day when British paddlers were squeezed out of the medals.

Katerina Kudejova won gold for the Czech Republic with a clean run of 103.62 ahead of German pair Ricarda Funk (105.91) and Melanie Pfeifer (106.33). Australia’s defending champion Fox was pushed back to fourth.

Pennie finished the day with a silver medal in the women’s team event.

The other Scot in action over the weekend, Roslin’s Bradley Forbes-Cryans, failed to make the final of the men’s kayak.