Curtis McGrath has further underlined his status as Australia’s king of the kayak, claiming a third consecutive single KL2 200m gold medal.

The 36-year-old former soldier won golds at Rio and Tokyo in the event, but has been at lengths to say how he feels his rivals are beginning to catch up on him.

But despite Britain’s David Phillipson and Ukranian Mykola Syniuk threatening to cause an upset early on, McGrath finished in style in Vaires-sur-Marne on Saturday.

McGrath turned on the afterburners over the final 100m to finish in a time of 41.31 to finish with a third straight gold.

His success came before Dylan Littlehales clinched silver in the men’s kayak single 200m KL3 final.

Littlehales had narrowly missed the podium in Tokyo, but a late surge helped him to medal.