Brilliant Olympic bronze for Kimberley Woods

Kimberley Woods has won the bronze medal in the women's individual kayak on day two of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Kimberley put down a clean run of 98.94 seconds in the final to put herself in second place behind Jessica Fox.

With two paddlers to go, Klaudia Zwolinska from Poland moved into the silver medal position, and pushed Woods into third place.

Reigning Olympic Champion Ricarda Funk was the last to go, but a 50 second penalty took her out of contention, to confirm the bronze and a first Olympic medal for Woods.

It was the first Olympic medal in the women's K1 for Great Britain since Helen Reeves in Athens 2004.

The sun came out on day two of the canoe slalom events at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, where a technically challenging course saw many struggle to navigate through the new configuration of 23 gates.

After finishing 12th in the qualifying heats, Woods went into the semi-final with impressive boat speed and a clean run to record the fastest time of 99.87 seconds.

As the first competitor to go under 100 seconds, the 28-year-old secured her place in a second Olympic individual kayak final, qualifying in third place behind Germany's Ricarda Funk and Klaudia Zwolinska from Poland.

In the final, Australia's Jessica Fox set the standard with a clean run of 96.08.

Woods, who finished in 10th place at the 2020 Tokyo Games, came out of the blocks fast, negotiating the difficult gate 2 which caught so many paddlers out.

A quick exit from gate 7 and across to the upstream gate 8 saw the Rugby Canoe Club athlete in contention for the medals.

A fast midsection and spinning clean through 15 and 16, Kim held her composure superbly to fight back through the upstream gate 17.

A strong finish saw Woods go into second place with an improved time of 98.94.

A nail biting finale saw Zwolinska move into the silver medal position. But a missed gate 20 and 50 second penalty for Ricarda Funk, the last competitor on the course, secured a brilliant bronze medal for Woods.

Speaking after the final Kimberley Woods said:

“It feels absolutely incredible to win Olympic bronze. Knowing all the hard work I've put in, my coach has put in. All the support from friends, family, just everyone.

“I feel so proud to have won this medal for Team GB.

“I didn't know how my time would sit as I threw my paddle. But I did know I'd put down a run I was really happy. Really pleased I paddle as who I wanted to be.

“There was a bit of a nervous wait. I couldn't watch the last two paddlers. I had my head in my hands. I heard the crowd and my team surrounded me.

“I've got a medal round my neck and I'm so happy.

“It shows I've got so much strength. I'm so proud of who I've been the last three years since Tokyo. Getting to the finish line and being proud of the run I put together.”

Coached by Craig Morris at Lee Valley White Water Centre, Kimberley will be back in action in the kayak cross, which starts with the time trials on Friday 2 August.

Next up for Team GB tomorrow is Stafford and Stone paddler, Adam Burgess, who qualified second fastest in the men's individual canoe.

You can catch Adam and the Team GB canoe slalom/kayak cross team on Eurosport 1, Discovery+ and BBC One throughout the day.

Further information can be found on the Paddle UK Paris 2024 website.

How to Watch

The BBC will bring you extensive coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics across TV, iPlayer, Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds, the BBC Sport website and the BBC Sport app.

Broadcaster Discovery+ is the rights holder for Paris 2024 and is showing every moment of the Games in the UK.

This includes ALL of the canoe slalom action.

Across the Discovery+ app and Eurosport channels in the UK, more than 3,800 hours of live coverage will be aired in total from 07:00 to 22:30 BST each day.

Discovery+ and Eurosport requires a subscription. You can find more information here.