The Crown Prince, who is a keen sportsman himself and recently completed an Ironman race, met with some of the more than 400 athletes from 37 nations taking part in the event, before taking to the water to try out one of the racing canoes on show.

After meeting with tournament organisers, including the Mayor's of Gladsaxe and Lyngby-Taarbæk, Karin Søjberg Holst and Søren P Rasmussen respectively, the royal guest took a tour of the spectator area before he met with Danish under 23 canoe stars Martin Larsen and Orion Pilo and presented medals to the podium placers in the men's K1 under 23 event, which was the last race on day one.

Unfortunately for the home support, it was not Larsen or Pilo whom the Crown Prince was draping the medals around.

Instead, it was South Africans Andy Birkett and Brandon van der Walt who placed first and second with Norway's Mathias Hamar in third.

In the men's C1 under 23 class, it was another double podium, but this time for Portugal's Samuel Amorim in first and Rui Lacerda in third, with Frenchman Pierrick Martin in between.

Belgium's Artuur Peters finished in the same position as Martin in the men's K1 junior race as he separated Hungary's winner Ãdãm Petrã and third placed Mãtyãs Koleszãr, while it was a similar story in the women's K1 junior competition, with Hungarians Tamara Takács and Zsãfia Czãllaivãrãs taking home gold and bronze, except this time the meat in the sandwich was South Africa's Kirsten Flanagan.

New Zealand's Teneale Hatton added the K1 under 23 marathon world crown to her K1 5,000m sprint world title from Duisburg