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Joe Clarke was not a happy man after finishing fifth in the K1 but he took it better than he would have three years ago.
It seemed written in the stars that the slalom canoeist would come to Paris 2024 as reigning world champion and avenge his non-selection for Tokyo by winning gold.
The gold medal graphics were being prepared after he posted the fastest time in the semi-finals.
In the end he fell a second short of the podium in an all-time classic final won by the brilliant Giovanni di Gennaro of Italy with a fiercely partisan French crowd roaring Titouan Castryck to silver.
Clarke is not accustomed to losing, let alone not winning medals, so this one stung.
“It’s hard to put into words,” said Clarke, who led after the first split but ran into trouble at the fifth and sixth gates.
“I don’t think I did too much wrong, just a couple of mistakes. I just got slightly stuck and had to correct it and that’s probably the difference between a podium and not.
“That’s canoe slalom, how tight it is. That was an immense final. The time differences are so finite and it’s hard to beat yourself up when it is so close. I didn’t crumble under the pressure, I kept a clean run, so it’s hard to digest.”
The 31-year-old roared to victory on debut at Rio 2016, banked his MBE, Red Bull endorsement and Question of Sport appearance and was seemingly set fair for a period of dominance.
True to form, the sport didn’t play ball. Clarke missed out on selection altogether for Tokyo, finishing behind Bradley Forbes-Cryans at the 2019 World Championships and missing out in an internal race for the single spot.
Powered by a new-found perspective after becoming a dad with son Hugo born in January 2023. Clarke won World Cup gold on Father’s Day that year and carried brilliant form through the season, crowned double World Champion in London in September. You sense that Clarke would have been even harder on himself for this result without the fresh outlook that comes with having a family.
“I’m sure he’s going to be very proud of me,” said Clarke. “He doesn’t know the difference between first and fifth. He has his supporters t-shirt on, all he does is point to me and say ‘dada dada.’ If I feel gutted now, I’ll see him in five minutes and be fine.”
That is not to say Clarke won’t be on a revenge mission in the kayak cross event.
Clarke is a back-to-back-to-back world champion in the new Olympic discipline, a chaotic made-for-TV race where five boats crash down the course at the same time. With boats regularly clashing and Clarke’s core strength coming to the fore, you might want to stay out of his way next week.
“Fifth wasn’t what I came here for, I’ve still got another chance for a medal,” said Clarke
“If being that close didn’t frustrate me enough, it’s definitely added a few coals to the fire for the kayak cross.”
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