David Florence suffered Olympic canoe slalom heartbreak today after finishing outside the cut-off for the final.

The 29-year-old, who comes from Aberdeen but lives in Loughton, initially took sixth spot after going out eighth in the C1 event, but dropped down to tenth place and out of the competition.

The world number one and silver medallist from Beijing had been in line for a medal but his time of 106.16 secs was not good enough.

Florence, nicknamed D-Flo, received huge cheers from the 12,000 capacity grandstand at Lee Valley white water centre as he powered his way down the 250m course.

He has another chance of a medal when he competes in the semi-final of the C2 - the two-man boat - on Thursday with team-mate and fellow Loughton star Richard Hounslow.

Florence said: "I am very disappointed obviously that it didn't go well enough. I have wanted to perform at this event for the last four years and not to do so is very frustrating.

"But it's part of the sport of canoe slalom - some days it doesn't go your way. As far as I am aware, I didn't go fast enough anywhere on the whole course. There wasn't one mistake that cost me time, it was the whole way.

"All I was trying to do was put in a great run the whole way and that is all I was really concentrating on.

"It's easy to say it was the pressure of the home crowd (that got to me) but this is a very up and down sport and today I wasn't good enough."

Florence insisted he could still turn it round for the C2 final on Thursday when he will compete in the two-man boat with Hounslow.

He added: "Sometimes I have had as little as 20 minutes to turn it round and this time I have two days so that is not really an issue. I am not going to let any negativity get in the way of what is a great opportunity in a couple of days.

"I don't think I let myself down because as far as I am concerned I did everything I could. The crowd has been fantastic and the support amazing."

John Anderson, Team GB's canoeing performance director, said: "I am really disappointed for David. He is obviously a very, very talented athlete.

"At the top of the course, he was paddling really well. It was a good first split time but he started over-rotating going into gate 16 and he wasn't in a great position going into gate 18 where he hit the pole.

"It was interesting because he could have done it but when he came out of the last gate to the finish he got an unfortunate chain of waves. He was always climbing the waves. He was only 0.7 seconds off the final and he lost that over the last bit."

He added: "David will obviously do some reflection on that run because obviously he has the C2 to come in two days' time. He is such a professional that he will refocus and put everything he has in to the C2."

Anderson also insisted Florence had the right mentality to cope with the pressure of an expectant home crowd.

He said: "When we go to the World Championships there is often a crowd of between 5,000 and 10,000 people. There may be high expectations because it is a home Olympics but that is part of the level at which we are operating."

The event was later won by French legend Tony Estanguet, who completed a remarkable treble following his Olympic triumphs in Sydney and Athens.