The home crowd erupted as Canada captured a second gold at the International Canoe Federation Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Halifax.
After winning with Grace Theunissen on Friday, Victoria Tran returned to the top of the podium, teaming up with Abbigail Haines to win the women’s junior canoe double 200m crown.
It was another thrilling day of racing in the non-Olympic events, with Spain’s Raul Fernandez edging an incredibly tight finish, while the men’s U23 canoe single 200m final produced a shared silver medal.
Brazil’s rising stars continued their impressive campaign by adding three more gold medals, including a historic breakthrough from Lorrane Souza.
China and Germany also celebrating victories after strong performances.
Tran secured her second world title of the World Championships as she and Haines powered to victory in the women’s junior C2 200m, crossing the line in 45.33.
"It feels amazing. Me and Abby [Haines] raced together at the Olympic Hopes and the Junior World Championships, so it's really fun to be racing together again," said Tran.
"We were just trying to focus on our race plan and execute it well, and we definitely did."
"It feels awesome to finish this race with a gold medal," added Haines.
"Racing in front of a home crowd is amazing. It's so nice to have everyone cheering for us, it definitely gave us a push.”
The Canadian pair held off Hungary’s Luca Poszpischil and Lena Hamar, who finished second in 45.58, while Spain’s Alba Lago and Irene Lahoz claimed bronze in 46.73.
The men’s U23 C1 200m final delivered one of the closest finishes of the day as four boats battled for the title.
Fernandez emerged victorious by the slimmest of margins, taking gold in 41.38.
"I'm really happy to have won that race, it was very tough out there, so it felt amazing to win,” said Fernandez.
“I feel so good because this is my first international gold medal.
"It's my first one but hopefully not the last, so I’m just very very happy to win. It was a tight race, so it felt even better to come out on top.”
Behind him, Hungary’s Gergo Rumi and Georgia’s Aleksandr Tsivtsivadze both stopped the clock at 41.57 to share the silver medal.
Brazil’s Lucas Santos once again timed his finish to perfection in the men’s junior C1 200m.
After trailing early, the Brazilian surged through in the closing metres to add another world title in 40.61.
Czechia’s Ondrej Prochazka settled for silver in 41.48, while Spain’s Antos Lagares completed the podium in 41.89.
Souza then delivered another landmark moment for Brazil by winning the women’s junior C1 500m in 2:23.22.
Her victory secured Brazil’s first-ever medal in the women’s junior canoe category, with Germany’s Lykka Strobel taking silver in 2:24.90 and Hungary’s Anna Trenycsenyi earning bronze in 2:26.57.
China claimed the women’s U23 C2 200m title as Miao Zhang and Hongyan Yan crossed first in 45.09.
Ukraine’s Iryna Nedilko and Iryna Fedoriv finished just 0.04 seconds behind to take silver in the closest one-two finish of the day, while Canada’s Ruby Muhl and Charlotte Desy delighted the home fans with bronze in 46.63.
Germany rounded off the day’s canoe finals with victory in the women’s U23 C1 500m.
Carlotta Loske broke clear in the closing stages to secure gold in 2:21.53, ahead of France’s Chloe Nicot in 2:23.38 and China’s Jiayi Dong in 2:23.73.
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