SHE may not be heading south of the equator to compete in the Olympic Games this summer but Hannah Brown added a golden glow to her season by becoming a world wildwater champion for the second time.

Three years ago, the 26-year-old, from Bradford on Avon, won the women’s sprint discipline at the Wildwater World Championships in Slovenia.

And last weekend, Brown propelled herself to the top of the downriver racing world once again by repeating the trick at the 2016 championships in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Back in April, the Great Britain international’s attempt to reach Rio 2016 in flatwater competition fell short, with a knee injury hampering her bids in the K1 200m, K1 500m and K2 500m, in which she partnered Emily Lewis, at the British Canoeing selection trials Olympic in Nottingham.

But that disappointment has been more than tempered by a World Championship title.

“Rio had been the focus for a long time, so this was kind of a plan B and I didn’t go into it as prepared as I would have like to have been,” said Brown, who is based in Maidenhead, near British Canoeing’s Dorney Lake training base.

“But I’m obviously really happy and even though I’ve done it before, it feels really surreal.

“I was quite shaky at the start because it was a tough course and it was hard to stay on the right line, so I had to draw on my inner canoer to get it done.

“I’m not going to the Olympics, so this is the end of my season.

“In January, I had an accident in the gym – my knee went the wrong way when I was doing the leg press and that accident kept me out of a boat in January and February, but I was lucky not to tear the ligaments.

“It didn’t help for the trials in April but being injured is part of sport and there isn’t much I can do about it.

“I think that British canoeing is in a good place with how strong a team we’re going to be sending and I’ll be watching on TV and supporting our guys.

“Hopefully winning this medal is good experience for me for future years.”

In the city of Banja Luka, Brown’s medal mission got off to a rocky start as she finished 10th in the opening qualification heat in a time of one minute and 1.50 seconds but the Wiltshire paddler was fastest in heat two as she broke the minute barrier (56.09).

Brown’s coronation was then confirmed in the final as she came home in 58.92, beating France’s Manon Hostens by just 0.02 seconds.