Emma Wiggs claims Seventh World Title at the 2018 Paracanoe World Championships

Emma Wiggs MBE became a seven-time World Champion by picking up gold with a dominant performance in the VL2 final at the 2018 Paracanoe World Championships. Emma also secured Silver in the Women’s KL2 and was part of a Great Britain team that topped the medal table at the championships with seven medals.

Emma showed why she is at the top of her sport with a fine victory in the VL2 final ahead of her teammate Jeanette Chippington, despite an ongoing wrist injury that has plagued her training in recent weeks. She finished over a boat length clear in a time of 57.766 seconds to take her seventh paracanoe world title.

“This is my second world title in the Va’a, so I’m really chuffed about that. Injuries are irrelevant and if you’re there on the start line, then you’re there to race with whatever you’ve got and that’s what I did. I’ll go away and have a few weeks off, then I’ll be back in training, working hard for the team and to keep paracanoe moving forward.”

Check out Emma’s full post-race interview by clicking here.

The previous day, in the race billed as the ‘battle of the Brits’, Emma was edged out into second by 0.7 seconds by her teammate Charlotte Henshaw in what was a thrilling race in Portugal. After the race, Emma was understandably delighted for her teammate who had been pushing her on the water all season and made no excuses despite her disrupted training schedule.

“I am genuinely chuffed to bits for Charlotte, she has worked really hard and we have both worked hard pushing each other and we have done what we wanted and taken the top two steps of the podium. Injuries are a part of spot, I did as best as I could, but I am not going to use it as an excuse. I will be back even stronger next year.”

You can read more about Great Britain’s medal table topping performance at the Paracanoe World Championships by visiting www.britishcanoeing.org.uk