Alexandra athlete Finn Butcher posted one of the most significant results of his career on Monday.
Butcher (26) won gold in the men’s K1 ICF world-ranking race on the Troja whitewater course in the Czech Republic.
The Dunstan High School old boy finished with a roar on the Prague course in a field containing 150 paddlers.
He was back in 16th heading into the semifinals but after a well-executed run that featured a touch only on gate 3, he moved into the final in seventh.
There were 10 paddlers in the final, including current and previous world champions and Olympians.
Paddlers are seeded from the fastest semifinal result down, which meant Butcher was fourth off.
He had a perfect run with no penalties and broke the magic 100sec mark with the fastest run of the day in 96.52sec.
His fast and clean run was well planned and calmly executed and clinched the gold medal.
It puts Butcher into a good position for world cup and world championship competitions to come.
He has already made a world cup podium this year, winning silver — also on the Prague course — in the Czech round of the world cup in June.
