Tauranga's Mike Dawson (left) with winner Nikita Gubenko and bronze medalist Michal Smolen after the extreme slalom final. Photo / Jamie Troughton/DscribeMedia
Tauranga's Mike Dawson (left) with winner Nikita Gubenko and bronze medalist Michal Smolen after the extreme slalom final. Photo / Jamie Troughton/DscribeMedia
Tauranga's Mike Dawson secured his second Canoe Slalom World Cup silver medal in as many weeks, surviving a tough final to finish runner-up in the extreme slalom event.
The Kiwi Olympian emerged battered and bruised, nursing a cut hand, after colliding with United States paddler Michal Smolen on the Krakowcourse in Poland, with both paddlers beaten by Russian Nikita Gubenko.
It came a week after Dawson won silver in Slovakia's opening World Cup round, and added to the two World Cup medals and World Championship bronze he picked up last year.
"It was definitely a brutal race - I was leading despite a bad start and Michal and I were battling it out through the middle stages when Nikita came through. It's nice to race two finals in a row and I'm looking forward to Augsburg next week for the third World Cup of the season," Dawson said.
His New Zealand teammates again had a frustrating final day, with Callum Gilbert unable to reproduce his repechage form in the men's K1 semifinals, finishing 31st, 20.80s off the pace.
Great Britain's Rio Olympic gold medalist Joe Clarke finally broke through for his first-ever World Cup win, with his final time of 76.93s putting him 1.31s ahead of Slovenia's Peter Kauzer.