Adam Burgess, Ryan Westley and Peter Linksted (Stirling and Falkirk Canoe Club) delivered a faultless run as the penultimate team to go in Wednesday's final to cruise into top spot in 93.18 seconds.

Burgess and Westley had both finished second to the French at the previous two World Championships in the same event, and with their cross-Channel rivals the final team to race there was reason for caution.

But as the French team picked up a two-second time penalty on the final gate, they finished 0.36 seconds behind the British trio to ensure the gold medal would finally belong to GB.

“We're super chuffed to finally get to call ourselves world champions for the first time,” said Burgess.

“We really wanted this one and it feels really good to finally get this top step. We've been really close to that gold medal for the past two times, the French just pipping us, and this time it was our turn to just pip them.”

Joining up with Westley and Burgess, who won silver with Luc Royle in Penrith, the gold was an impressive way to mark Linksted’s first-ever senior medal.

“I definitely felt the pressure trying to come in and one-up what they did last year. They've been very, very successful,” he said.

“We decided to split and let Adam get ahead. After I bounced off the bollards at the start, we got a really nice bottom half.

“It felt like I could do my own run and Ryan behind me could do his own run, too. I had a bit of a wobble in the middle there, but I'm really happy with how we went around that.”

And for Westley, the victory was as much a result of their long-term input as it was the run on the day as they maintained a tight weave all the way to the bottom.

“We've put more into the team tactics in our discussions over the past couple of years and it's nice to see it paying off,” he said.

“Adam and I were in a similar position last year, but this time we've got Peter back on the team.

“It's funny that after Peter bounced off the blocks, I was thinking maybe this one had gone.

“But I was listening to the commentary on gate 13 or 14 and they said we were just over a second up and I was like, ‘Oh! It's worth trying until the finish then!”

The women just missed out on the podium in their canoe teams final, as they finished fourth in 105.81 seconds.

It put Kimberley Woods, Mallory Franklin and Ellis Miller 1.17 seconds off the French in third, and 1.85 seconds off the Slovak world champions.

But it was a day filled with success as six out of six British athletes progressed to the semi-finals from the canoe heats on another successful day in Oklahoma.

Burgess led the way in the men's canoe heats which marked the first event of Wednesday across the pond.

The 34-year-old, who won C1 World Cup silver in Augsburg earlier this season, progressed in fourth as he posted a time of 85.16 seconds.

“I'm really happy to have a nice, solid start here,” he said. “In that first run, particularly with one-run heats now on a fairly easy course, it's easy for upsets to happen. We saw a few today – there were a few big fallers.

“So, I went out there to do a good, solid job, create nice space on the water and delivered that.

“There was a little bit of time in there at the end but I'm right in the mix and where I want to be heading into finals day on Friday.”

Westley and Linksted also finished in the top 30 to qualify for the semi-finals as Westley finished 19th in 89.64 seconds and Linksted finished 22nd in 90.05 seconds, despite picking up a two-second time penalty at gate 12.

Woods matched Burgess' efforts in the women's canoe heats as she also finished fourth to progress to the semi-finals in 94.26 seconds.

While Woods has already competed in the kayak heats in Oklahoma, in what marks her 10th World Championships for Great Britain, she was back in action in canoe having claimed World Cup bronze in C1 this season in Prague.

She will be joined in the semi-finals by her teammates. Olympic silver medallist Franklin qualified 13th in 96.91 seconds, while Miller qualified 26th in 101.11 seconds.