Great Britain’s David Florence made history by becoming the first man to win two gold medals at a Canoe Slalom World Cup across two classes.

The 29-year-old Scot won the individual C1 gold on Saturday before teaming up with Richard Hounslow to take victory in the C2 on Sunday in Cardiff.

“It is such an ‘on the day’ sport, so to win any medal at all is fantastic,” Florence said.

“To win two is amazing and two golds is unbelievable. It is just the ultimate.”

Florence approached Hounslow, who competes in the individual kayak (K1), after the Beijing Olympics four years ago about combining in the double canoe, where both paddlers kneel down and have a single paddle each.

Florence admited their first victory together in a World Cup event came as something of a surprise.

Flying through the course with control and composure, they laid down a fast and clean run to take the lead in 108.29 seconds with no penalties.

They then had to wait while the remaining seven boats – including triple Olympic champions Pavol and Peter Hochshorner of Slovakia, who clocked a quicker time, 105.04 seconds, but with 4 penalty seconds, to finish third – followed them down.

“We weren’t expecting it,” Florence said. “We knew we were capable of putting down a good run and if we did that, we could be up there in the medals. But although we have had a number of medals, we have never won a World Cup before.

“It hadn’t gone perfectly so I was a bit surprised when I saw the time and realised it was a bit better than it felt.

“It is a huge achievment and something we will be very proud of for the rest of our days.”