Rotorua's Sam Sutton wins fourth Extreme Kayak World Championship

Rotorua's Sam Sutton in action on his way to a fourth Extreme Kayak World Championship title. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Rotorua's Sam Sutton has proven class is permanent with his fourth Extreme Kayak World Championship title.

Having won successive titles in 2010, 2011 and 2012, Sutton was always going to be in the title-winning discussion. However, he faced a stern challenge as 16 of the world's best male kayakers from 10 different countries lined up for the final.

The 10th Adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championship was held at the infamous Wellerbrucke rapids in Otztal, Austria at the weekend and comprised 175 of the world's best kayakers from 33 different countries.

The relatively high water levels guaranteed fast times in a series of knockout rounds and with a new course record of 53.8sec set by multiple freestyle world champion Dane Jackson in the semifinal, the battle for the prestigious sickline belt in the final was always going to be a close one.

Sutton finished second by one hundredth of a second last year and, having achieved the second fastest time in the quarter-final and the third fastest time in the semifinal, he had a point to prove in this year's the final.

"In my final run I had an awesome feeling at the start, I was like 'just go out and enjoy it, you never know if this is your last Sickline Sam'," he said.

"So I was pretty stoked just to push off and carry on down. I made a couple of little mistakes at the start...but then I managed to pull it together. I was a little bit out of control, but tried to keep the boat moving and then I was reasonably happy with my time."

adidas Sickline 2017, men, 1st place, Sam Sutton (NZL)

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Posted by Sickline on Saturday, 7 October 2017

He had aimed to be a second faster, but the 54.89 seconds he clocked at the finish line was fast enough to claim the title, as neither Hannes Aigner nor Dane Jackson, who started after him, had faster runs.

"It feels really surreal, it's always something that I have wanted to do, win another one - but it has taken bloody ages since my last one, Sutton said.

"I was pretty stoked just to come here and you know, I'm getting older and it seems harder and harder, because I find less and less time to go kayaking. I feel sorry for Dane because he was the fastest out there today, it was his race to lose, but I'll take his loss as my victory."