Hamish Lovemore stunned the paddling world and showed exactly why he is so highly regarded in the South African paddling community when he was narrowly edged out of the gold medal position in the men’s K1 1000m final at the International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint World Cup in Szeged.

It was a top-class field that featured six of the eight Olympic finalists, including Paris 2024 champion Josef Dostal of Czechia.

Lovemore surprised the field and just failed to hang on for what would have been a famous victory.

Home favourite Balint Kopasz, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist, won in 3:29.65, edging Lovemore who took silver in 3:29.82, while a late surge from Dostal saw the Czech seal bronze in 3:32.10.

In other results at Szeged, Lovemore finished fifth in the 5 000m, 40 seconds behind Norwegian Jon Vold.

Esti Olivier made her way into the B Final for the 200m where she ended eighth, and was eliminated in the heats of the 500m.

The third member of the South African team in Szeged, Henry van der Walt, finished sixth in the E Final of the 1 000m, sixth in the semi-finals of the 200m, and was eliminated in the heats of the 500m.

The second World Cup will be held in Poznan on May 22-25 and the world championships in Milan in August.