Canoeing: City star Florence well-placed in the European Championships

Edinburgh's David Florence qualified in style from yesterday's C2 heats at the European Canoe Slalom Championships near Barcelona. The Olympic C1 silver medallist and team-mate Rich Hounslow set the quickest time of 103.12 secs on their first attempt and opted not to contest the second run as Florence saved his energy for a punishing four-day programme.

They were later overtaken by three pairs but finished only a second down on Slovak twins Peter and Pavol Hochschorner, the three-time Olympic champions, going into tomorrow's semi-finals.

However, they will not feature in the final of tomorrow's C2 team competition as Britain finished sixth in yesterday's semis with only the top five countries qualifying.

Florence is back on the water today in the heats of his best event, the C1 Canadian singles.