Rio 2016: Britain's David Florence and Richard Hounslow keep it positive despite missing out on gold

David Florence and Richard Hounslow adopted the glass half full outlook following their silver medal victory in the C2 canoe slalom event in Rio on Thursday which was so close to being another gold for Great Britain.

The duo missed out on top spot to the Slovakian cousins Peter and Ladislav Skantar on the podium by just 0.43 seconds following their run despite leading at the first time check and the second. They lost time in the final third of the run and just come up shy of gold. The pair also won silver in the event at London 2012 and Florence has another silver from the solo C1 event from Beijing in 2008.

But there were no regrets from the British duo – outwardly at least – who were delighted to be medallists at all.

“We are not disappointed at all,” Florence said after the race. “OK, we got a silver medal, but we just wanted to put together a really solid run and perform to the best of our ability, and we did that. OK, it wasn’t quite the gold, but in a sport like this when you spend all that time preparing and the slightest of mistakes costs you not just a medal, but no where near a medal.

“I’m really, really pleased with the way we held that run together. Particularly having seen how fast the Skantars had gone, they went drastically faster than I think anyone thought possible on the basis of first runs. That can be a little bit scary when you are sat on the start and you’ve still got five minutes to wait for your run, and they are sitting there rubbing their hands at what a good run they have had.”

Hounslow, who had to lift Florence following his poor run on Tuesday in the final of the solo C1 event, agreed. “We were so close to gold, but it was also so close to it not being a medal. It’s fantastic, I’m delighted. Now I’m looking forward to cheering on the rest of Team GB at these Olympics.”

And how had he picked Florence up? “You don’t have to do too much,” he said. “David is a professional. Sometimes you have just got to let him go off and start stewing his own emotions. Yesterday he picked up throughout the day. I could see it wasn’t going to take much for him to be really up for a good performance. Controlled anger is almost a good thing.”

Did the pair know how close they were to putting a run to that end of silvers and turning it into gold as they tumbled down the course in fine fashion? “I had no idea,” said Florence. “I was just thinking of what I had to do on each gate. It felt like ‘yes, we got that gate right’, ‘yes, we got that gate right’. I’ve been told we were well up on the first split and a little bit less on the second, but this is the sport. It’s about the collective. Unfortunately our collective wasn’t as quick as the Skantars.”

So can they turn silver to gold in Tokyo or is that a step too far for two 34-year-olds? “I still love canoeing,” said Florence. “If things keep going successfully for me I’d love to be in Tokyo. But just to get to an Olympics is so tough. There is only one boat per class. I’m not going to retire but Tokyo seems a long way away at the minute.

Hounslow admitted he might have to get a proper job: “Now I have to think what to do next,” he said. “This might be my last Olympics and I might have to get a real job. I don’t know what. I have delivered pizzas and worked at a bar. That’s about it.”