Joe Clarke is an Olympic champion.

The Waltham Abbey resident produced the run his life to win the canoe slalom single kayak title in a gold medal-winning time of 1.28.53.

The 23-year-old, who was born in Stone in Staffordshire and is competing at his first Games, knew he was in with a chance of a medal after qualifying in third place from this afternoon’s semi-finals in Rio in 1.30.67.

And Clarke, who won World Cup bronze in 2014 and 2015 and trains at Lee Valley White Water Centre, underlined the quality of that run by producing a penalty-free performance in the final to move into the lead with two competitors remaining.

Clarke then had to watch on as the Czech Republic’s Jiri Prskavec and the fastest qualifier from the semi-final, Slovakia’s Jakub Grigar, could not match his time before he was able to celebrate a life-changing result.

The kayaker becomes Britain’s second gold medallist of the Games, following Adam Peaty’s world record-breaking display in the 100m breaststroke, and ninth medallist overall to date.