‘Stranger than a dream’ as home duo dominate

Etienne Stott and Tim Baillie led from the start and were forced to wait anxiously at the bottom of the course as their rivals failed to match their time of 106.41 seconds.

It was then left to fellow Britons David Florence and Richard Hounslow in the last run of the final to see if they could go faster. They agonisingly missed out on gold but secured silver and a historic one-two for Great Britain.

Three-time Olympic gold medallists, Slovakian twins Pavol and Peter Hochschorner, were left to rue their mistakes as they claimed bronze.

Stott, 33, from Manchester, said: “It’s stranger than a dream to be honest. It couldn’t have gone more perfectly for our sport (yesterday). It’s amazing.”

There were scenes of jubilation as 12,000 fans cheered on the two crews at the Lee Valley white water course.

LOCOG chairman Lord Coe and IOC president Jacques Rogge were in the crowd for yesterday’s racing, which came after both Hounslow and Florence failed to make the finals in their individual events.

For Tim Baillie, nephew of 1970s adventurer Mike Jones who paddled in the Himalayas, the victory comes after 30 years in the sport.

He said: “I can’t remember the first time I got in a boat. I think I was three so it would have been as soon as I could swim.

“I have always been around rowers and canoers and obviously I have done quite a lot more of it in recent years. I was quite competitive and as a kid it was something I was quite good at.”

The world No 6 pairing, who rent a house together next to the course, now plan to take some time off.

Baillie, from Aberdeen, added: “I don’t think surreal really covers it. It’s crazy. I think I will bask in the happy, strange glow for a few days.

“Coming in we weren’t favourites or anything. The sport is so topsy turvy, we could have gone out in qualifying. You just never know.”

Florence and Hounslow nearly ousted Stott and Baillie from Team GB when they decided to compete in the C2. Although ranked three places lower at ninth in the world, they were ahead after the first split but lost time coming out of the final gate, narrowly missing out on gold by 0.36 of a second.

Florence, who at one stage considered becoming an astronaut, said he felt enormous pressure as they prepared for the final run.

He said: “The crowd, knowing how tough a time was needed – I have never been in a situation like that and it is not something I want to experience every day but we just focused in on our run. We have to deal with pressure all the time. We were just pleased to put in a good run and give it our best.

“Okay, it was close to the gold but fair play, Tim and Etienne were better than us and it is fantastic for British canoeing.

“It’s been tough because we were good friends with those guys but effectively we were saying that we were trying to take their Olympic spot from them.

“But as it worked out we both made it to the Olympics and the standard of the sport has come up massively in the last four years and to be a part of that is fantastic.”

There was disappointment for Britain’s Lizzie Neave in the women’s K1.

The 25-year-old from Stone, in Staffordshire, qualified in second place for the semi-final but then three penalties meant she missed out on the final, which was won by Emilie Fer from France.

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