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GB win canoe slalom gold and silver

Great Britain have taken gold and silver in the canoe slalom C2 event.

Helen Reeves Olympic bronze medallist and BBC canoeing pundit "Great Britain have never before won an Olympic gold in this event before. I am almost speechless. Two medals. We always knew with two boats in this final that the odds were good. But the odds have proven to be very, very good."

Baillie and Stott, ranked sixth in the world, produced an error-free run to take a shock win at Lee Valley.

The British crews were the only pairs not to pick up penalties on their runs to complete Britain's most successful day in the history of the sport.

Stott said: "It's weird. It could have been a disaster and now it's a dream. There is nothing taken for granted in this sport and getting to the final was amazing."

Baillie added: "The run we had, I was hoping it might be good enough for a medal, but I didn't expect that."

Baillie and Stott were the first pairing out on the 300m, 25-gate course and lay down a marker with a run that was particularly impressive on the second half of the course.

The Chinese, Polish and French pairings could not beat them, which guaranteed Baillie and Stott a first Olympic medal.

Back from the brink "From their lowest ebb as write-offs with broken bones in the shadow of their team-mates, Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott have ridden a wave to Olympic stardom." Read more on Baillie and Stott's path to gold

Pavol and Peter Hochschorner, who have never lost an Olympic C2 final having won gold at the last three Games, could not match them, guaranteeing Baillie and Stott silver. The Slovakian brothers finished with the bronze.

World number nine pair Florence and Hounslow were the quickest in the semi-finals and therefore had the honour of going last.

They were up on the lead time until the final sector, but just missed out to take their first Olympic silver as a pair.

Florence and Hounslow both went out in the semi-finals of their individual events.

David Florence won an individual silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.