Hard going for Florence in Prague

Aberdeen’s David Florence and the rest of the world’s top canoeists were all caught out by a difficult course as the triple world champion finished fifth in yesterday’s C1 slalom final at the World Cup in Prague.

The three-time Olympic silver medallist was eliminated in the heats at the European championships this month and Florence narrowly avoided another early exit in yesterday’s semi-finals when he was the slowest qualifier in 10th place.

The 34-year-old clocked 101.29sec in the final, which would have been good enough for a silver medal, but two clipped gates meant 4sec of time penalties and cost him a spot on the podium.

All 10 finalists, including German winner Sideries Tasiadis, incurred penalties with double Olympic champion Michal Martikan missing a gate completely.