Chippington had surprisingly come second in her heat to qualify for the final, but she extinguished the possibility that her winning run in the event was coming to an end by crossing the line in a time of 56.87sec to defend her crown.

Germany’s Edina Muller proved to be her nearest rival by crossing in 57.51 and she will hope to close the gap further ahead of next year’s Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, while Ukraine’s Svitlana Kupriianova rounded off the podium in a time of 59.37.

"I am so relieved - that was a really tough one," Chippington said afterwards.

"I was lying in second position after the heat and when you are used to winning World Championships and there is the chance a medal can slip out of your grasp it is a lot of pressure.

"I am really, really pleased."

While Chippington was adding to her overall tally of world Para-canoeing titles, which now stands at nine, Australia’s Susan Seipel earned her maiden world title after being the only athlete to dip under the one minute barrier in the women’s VL2 200m final.

Seipel, who had earned bronze earlier in the Championships in the KL2 200m, clocked a time of 59.92 to comfortably win gold ahead of Russia’s Nadezda Andreeva who earned silver in 1 min 04.29sec.

Brazil’s Raiza Ribeiro Benivides stopped the clock in 1:05.54 to secure bronze, to help Brazil finish second on the Para-canoeing medals table behind Australia, who would end the Championships with three golds, one silver and one bronze medal.

Meanwhile, Germany had been forced to wait until the final day of Para-canoeing to earn a gold and it came through Tom Kierey after he produced an excellent display to win the men’s KL3 200m in 39.27.

Robert Oliver claimed Britain’s fifth silver medal of the Championships by crossing the line in 39.74, while Russia’s Leonid Krylov took bronze by finishing in a time of 39.78.

With Para-canoeing events having drawn to a close in the Italian city, the focus now shifts to the able-bodied event and a bumper day, which includes 10 finals, is set to take place tomorrow.

A potentially thrilling women’s K1 500m final awaits, with New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington bidding for revenge against Danuta Kozák after being narrowly beaten by the Hungarian in 2014, while the Czech Republic’s Josef Dostál will bid to defend his men’s K1 1,000m crown despite fierce opposition.



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