Joe Clarke fell short of a medal in his attempt to reclaim the canoe slalom title he won in 2016, finishing fifth on his return to the Olympics in a final dominated by a brilliant run from the Italian Giovanni De Gennaro.
The Stoke-on-Trent-born Clarke, who won the latest of his five world championship golds last year, had high hopes of a place on the podium having controversially missed out on selection for Tokyo 2020. Another stellar showing seemed possible when he qualified fastest from the semi-finals but, going out last of the 12 final competitors, he could not get near De Gennaro and finished 0.95sec short of the bronze medal winner, Pau Echaniz.
