DAVID Florence suffered the agony of missing out on a C2 medal at the World Championships at Lee Valley after a touch on the final gate.

Florence and English partner Richard Hounslow were fastest in the semis with a clean run in 100.95 seconds – which would have given them gold in the final and which gave them the advantage of being last to go in the final for the first time in a major championships since they won silver at London 2012.

Chasing a time of 101.17secs set by Germans Franz Anton and Jan Benzien, who were fourth in the semis, Florence and Hounslow suffered an early touch on gate eight, which left them with a lot of work to do but they produced a valiant effort but the touch on gate 22 denied them bronze and they eventually placed fifth in 104.68secs.

Florence, double world champion in 2013, has another chance of a medal in the canoe singles today, having qualified for the semis.

Anton and Benzien, the European silver medallists, were surprise winners, as it was the German pair’s first competition win for two years.

There was also disappointment for Crieff’s Fiona Pennie, who qualified for the final of the kayak with the eighth-fastest time but was in trouble early on with a touch on gate three for a two-second penalty. She also touched gates eight and 17 to leave her ninth overall in 120.02secs.

GB’s Lizzie Neave and Kimberley Woods finished seventh and 10th, respectively.

There was some consolation for Florence and Pennie when they helped GB to respective bronze and silver medals in the team events. In the canoe doubles, GB clocked 123.59secs to finish third with France taking gold and, in the team kayak, GB took silver in 128.06secs behind the Czech Republic.