It turned out to be a Pedersen procession as the home favourite swept his opponents aside to secure a dominant victory at Lake Jels.

As soon as Pedersen stepped on the accelerator at the halfway stage, there was only going to be one winner.

The Dane triumphed by two-and-a-half minutes to win his third canoe marathon world title, following his successes in 2019 and 2021.

Having come agonisingly short in the men’s K1 short race, losing to Portugal’s Fernando Pimenta, Pedersen was determined to deliver success on home soil.

Pedersen was part of a group of six canoeists jostling for position before he upped the pace in the fifth lap.

His competitors were unable to respond as Pedersen found a gear that no one else had, asserting his absolute dominance on the race.

With victory all but certain, Pedersen raised his paddle in celebration at the final portage before wrapping up the title in a time of 1hr 57min 57.48sec.

"I was carried so much by the crowd and I have so many emotions right now," said Pedersen.

"To become world champion in my home country is just surreal.

"I was getting tired but the crowd helped me a lot so thank you for coming and cheering for us."

While Pedersen was in a league of his own, there was a tremendous battle for second between Portugal’s Jose Ramalho, Norway’s Eivind Vold and South Africa’s Andrew Birkett.

It went down to the wire as Birkett overtook Vold in the closing metres to take silver in 2:00:29.33.

Vold managed to seal bronze in 2:00:30.20 as Ramalho missed out on a medal after crossing in 2:00:31.19.

Like Pedersen, Hungary’s Vanda Kiszli was also dominant in the women’s K1 race, producing a stunning victory.

Kiszli was a class above the rest of the field as she established an early lead before pulling further clear of her rivals.

The Hungarian won by more than two minutes as she cruised home in 1:56:58.92.

Sweden’s Melina Andersson, who beat Kiszli to win women’s C1 short race gold, finished a distant second in 1:58:50.10, while South Africa’s Christie MacKenzie bagged bronze in 1:59:05.43.

"I didn’t know what happened at the first portage, but I just wanted [to] run and paddle as hard as I could," said Kiszli.

"I felt the whole world was cheering for me so thank you.

"I didn’t plan this because Melina is here and is stronger along with the other girls who are strong too.

"I planned to just stay with them [and] see what happened, but I broke away so I am very happy."

There was a Ukrainian one-two in the women’s C1 with Liudmyla Babak overcoming Olena Tsyhankova to take the title.

Babak managed to get the better of her competitor to seal victory in 1:18:49.00.

Tsyhankova had to settle for silver in 1:20:10.24 while in the battle for bronze, Paulina Grzelkiewicz came out on top.

Grzelkiewicz crossed in 1:22:00.90 for third spot - just eight seconds ahead of France’s Yseline Huet.

Spain’s Manuel Campos held off Marton Kover of Hungary to capture the men’s C1 crown.

There was little between Campos, Kover and Spain’s Manuel Garrido after completing the final portage.

It looked set to be a three-day fight to the finish before Campos and Kover pulled away from Garrido.

Kover threatened to overtake Campos with a couple of late surges only for the Spaniard to respond to the challenge on both occasions.

Campos crossed in 1:43.35.11 - one second quicker than Kover who picked up silver, while Garrido came third in 1:44:00.00.

A junior race was also contested this morning where the top three were separated by just three seconds.

Argentina’s Vicente Vergauven emerged victorious from the men's K1 junior event, winning in 1:34:54.03.

Compatriot Joaquin Catalano came up agonisingly short, taking silver in 1:34:55.67, while Hungary’s Arpad Kekesi placed third with 1:34:57.00.

Competition is due to conclude tomorrow.