Saffron Walden's Laura Sugar capped a remarkable debut international season with silver in the KL3 200m at the Paracanoe World Championships in Szeged.

Finishing behind Uzbekistan’s Shakhnoza Mirzaeva by only three hundredths of a second, Sugar, who combines para canoeing with para athletics at elite level, secured her third medal of the year from three international competitions with silver.

The success continues Sugar’s rapid rise in the sport after the 28-year-old, in her first international event in May, secured bronze at the Paracanoe European Championships.

“I’m really happy,” she said. “I wasn’t sure when I crossed the line whether to be happy or disappointed. I had no idea who had won it and I messed up my start a little but that’s probably one of my best second halves.

“Compared to Poznan when I nearly fell in in similar conditions I was happy to put down a solid race.

“If you said two months ago I would have been ever so slightly disappointed to not win world championship gold I would have said ‘what you on about?’

“Those are small margins but just to get here and get to the final was my aim. To come away with a silver and a massive PB in the heats, I’m happy with that.

“British canoeing is amazing right now. Everyone is so positive, we’re always chatting and get on really well. It breeds that culture that everyone expects everyone to do well and go for it.

“Now I’m going to have a bit of cake and re-focus for a test event in Tokyo. It’ll be great to test the waters out in Tokyo before the winter.”

British Canoeing is the national governing body for paddlesports in the UK. Our purpose is to: Inspire people to pursue a passion for paddling; for health, enjoyment, friendship, challenge and achievement. Find out more on britishcanoeing.org.uk