Canoeing: Florence is a machine

Edinburgh canoeist David Florence eased through to tomorrow’s semi-finals after going third-quickest in yesterday’s C1 heats at the European Slalom Championships in Augsburg.

The Olympic silver medallist was 12th-fastest on his opening run in a conservative 97.80secs, but improved to 93.66 on his second attempt to trail his French rival Tony Estanguet by just 0.63secs. Slovakia’s double Olympic champion Michal Martikan was two seconds slower in eighth place.

Florence is back on the water today as he and Rich Hounslow compete in the C2 doubles qualifiers.