Maksim Khutski held on to win the boys K1 sprint final in a tight finish from Russia’s Danil Vetrov, while in the women’s C1 sprint, Uzbekistan's Gulbakhar Fayzieva dominated throughout the competition to secure top spot ahead of Hungary’s Laura Gönczöl.

Under the Youth Olympic Games format, the athletes will now have to turn their attention to this weekend’s slalom obstacle races on the Canal Olimpic de Catalunya course that hosted the canoe sprint events at the 1992 Olympics Games.

These involve starting at the top of a ramp and then executing an eskimo roll midway through the race.

From her first race of the day, 16-year-old Fayzieva sent out a strong message. 

She posted a time of 1min 59:21sec, and was the only C1 athlete to go under two minutes for the event.

Fayzieva grew up in the village where Vadim Menkov, Uzbekistan’s two-time world champion, was born, which is also on the bank of a popular canoeing lake.

The Menkov influence and the access to the lake means "all the girls take up canoeing", Fayzieva said.

She admitted the slalom will prove more challenging for her, but has spent the past two months practising her compulsory role.

Khutski was pushed all the way in his semi-final and final, the 15-year-old firstly seeing off the challenge of Hungary’s Adam Kiss in the semi-final, and then scraping home against Vetrov, 1:35:59 to 1:35:79, in the final.

The slalom events are due to begin tomorrow, starting with the boys’ C1 and the girls’ K1.