Leaver qualified sixth from the heats but stepped it up in the final, putting down a run 103.88 to move into first place despite picking up a penalty on the fifth gate.

She faced a nervous wait with five paddlers still to run, but only Olympic champion Ricarda Funk and home favourite Eva Pietracha were able to better her time.

It continues a terrific week for Leaver, who also earned World Cup bronze in kayak cross in La Seu last weekend.

“It feels pretty cool to have another World Cup medal this week,” she said. “It is super exciting for it to be in slalom.

“I feel like I have known for a little while that I have the pace but never strung it all together. It feels special to have done that today and to do it with a touch.

“Between the heats and the final, I just wanted to fine tune the lines I took. I didn't get quite high enough into some of the ups, and there was a little time in how the boat flowed so we really pinpointed that.”

Leaver was made to wait until the very end to find out if she had won a medal, with top qualifier Evy Leibfarth last to go, but the American was unable to force her way onto the podium.

“I was super nervous watching Evy come down while I was in third place,” added Leaver.

“She had an absolutely brilliant run and there was not much time in it at all, it was really nerve-wracking.

“So many good runs went down in the final that were substantially faster than the heats so it was definitely nervous sat on that seat sat in the kiss and cry.”

Leaver was joined by compatriot Kimberley Woods in the women's final, where she improved on her 12th-place qualification to finish sixth in the final.

Woods went first in the final and put down a competitive benchmark of 104.54 thanks to a clean run but was ultimately unable to hang onto a place on the podium.

Nikita Setchell was the other British paddler in women's K1 action and she finished 25th in the heats with a time of 113.26.

In the men's K1, Jonny Dickson led British hopes fresh from his double medal haul in La Seu last week.

Dickson took time trial gold before following up with kayak cross silver on that occasion but missed out on the final in Pau.

His time of 99.86s was good enough for 27th, with compatriots Jake Brown and Ben Haylett also missing out on the finals.

Brown finished 49th after picking up two faults en route to a time of 106.17, while Haylett was 61st with two faults also contributing to his time of 116.90.