HANNAH Brown is hoping she can build on the experience of her first-ever appearance at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships to compete for international medals in years to come.

The 23-year-old won gold in the K1 sprint discipline at the World Wildwater Cham-pionships in June, but the Bradford on Avon paddler was back competing for Great Britain on flat water in Duisberg, Germany, last weekend.

Bradford on Avon canoe club member Brown finished seventh in the K2 200m final alongside Jessica Walker and was also part of the Great Britain K1 200m relay team that finished sixth.

And the Wiltshire paddler says that she got a kick out of her first taste of the sprint world championships.

“It was so much bigger than anything else I’d ever been to. There were something like 1,700 athletes there and it was such a great experience,” said Brown.

“I thought that we did well, especially because we were racing against world-renowned crews and people that had won a load of international medals in the past.

“We didn’t really have a goal (in the K2 200m) but it was nice to have a race plan and then go out there and perform it.

“It still probably wasn’t our best-ever race, but maybe we can do better next year. It was my first time and I just want to try and learn as much as I can from it.”

Brown completed her studies at the University of Southampton earlier this year and is currently preparing to begin life as a full-time athlete in earnest after relocating to Maidenhead, close to GB Canoeing’s Dorney Lake training base.

“We’ve got about a month off now because the worlds were the last competition of the season. It’s been a long one, but it’s been a good one too,” said Brown.

“I’m living with a hockey player and I’m spending time decorating and things like that before we get back into training in October.”

Brown’s Bradford on Avon compatriot Ed McKeever missed out on a medal in Duisberg after finishing sixth in the men’s K1 200m final.

The 30-year-old Olympic champion won gold at the 2010 world championships in 2010 and silver in 2011, but went home empty handed as Sweden’s Petter Öström took gold with a time of 34.644.

McKeever and the British men’s K1 200m relay squad also missed out on the bronze medal by less than a minute (02:28.803), with the Hung-arian quartet sealing third place in (2:28.092).

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