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MEMORIES AND MEDALS :
Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games may have been delayed a year , but it was worth the wait as our paddlers selected to represent Team GB and ParalympicsGB took to the waters at the Sea Forest Waterway and Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre . www . britishcanoeing . org . uk
Slalom
Stunning silver medal for Mallory Franklin
Mallory Franklin won a historic Olympic silver medal in a thrilling women ’ s C1 final on day five of the slalom competition
After recording the two fastest times in the heats on the demanding Kasai Canoe Slalom course , Mallory qualified for the final in sixth place with a time of 117.75 in the semi-final .
With an incredible run in the final , including just one touch on gate 15 , Mallory was on top of the leaderboard , with a time of 108.68 .
Still in the gold medal position with one paddler to go , Mallory was denied gold by Jessica Fox , who went clear in a time of 105.04 with Mallory taking a stunning silver medal .
Mallory , coached by Craig Morris , was one of 22 athletes competing in the inaugural women ’ s C1 event at an Olympic Games .
Mallory became only the second British woman to win a medal in Olympic canoe slalom , after Helen Reeves who won the bronze medal in the women ’ s K1 at the Athens 2004 Games .
Speaking after the race Mallory said : “ For us to come here and produce that kind of final just shows how much the C1 women ’ s event has just grown and developed . To be part of that and to be able to stay up the top is really cool .”
Olympic finals achieved by slalom team on debut
All four slalom athletes representing Team GB were making their Olympic debuts in Tokyo .
First to take on the course was Adam Burgess in men ’ s C1 . In the heats Adam posted a clean and quick first run time of 99.82 to put him in fourth place , before delivering an even quicker time 99.64 in his second delivery , despite a touch on gate seven .
In the semi-finals , Adam put down a strong performance to qualify for the final in eighth place and followed it with a fantastic run in his first Olympic Games final with a clean time of 103.86 .
Despite being in contention Adam , coached by Craig Morris , narrowly missed out on a place on the podium , finishing in fourth place , just 0.16 seconds behind Sideris Tasiadis who was third .
Attention then turned to Kimberley Woods in the women ’ s K1 . Kimberley , also coached by Craig Morris , looked impressive on day one of competition finishing ninth in the heats to establish her place in semi-finals .
Kimberley delivered an excellent and composed semi-final performance to post her first clean run of the season in a time of 109.00 .
However the penalties in her final run meant she finished tenth in her first ever Olympic final , an achievement she can be incredibly proud of .