With fond memories of racing in La Seu d'Urgell following her bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships, Neave was last on the start line in the women's kayak final, with high hopes of paddling away with a medal.

Having put in a stunning performance in her semi-final, seeing her qualify as the favourite into the final, the pressure was on.

With spectacularly tight racing from the competitors before her, Neave knew she had to pull out all the stops in order to be on the podium.

With some early mistakes, Neave showed true determination and fighting spirit, keeping her in the running at the half way split.

Digging deep through the last part of the course, with every ounce of energy going through her blades, she crossed the finish line in a time of 106.76sec sliding into third place, behind the reigning European champion Jana Dukatova from Slovakia and Claudia Baer from Germany.

Neave commented: "It is one of my favourite courses, I have found the course this weekend really physical but have loved racing.

"My run didn't get off to a very good start and I didn't think I had done enough to medal, but when I crossed the line and saw I was third I was really happy."

Women's coach Paul Ratcliffe said: "It was a great performance, she just focused on her plan.

"There was one area where she was off line but she kept it together in a really high quality women's race."

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