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The result of my narrowly beating Tim Brabants in a best-of-three race off in July was that I was selected to race the 1000m K1 event at the World Championships just four weeks later. So, no sooner had I enjoyed a moment of celebration to relieve the pressure that had inevitably built up than I had to ramp everything up once more to compete on the world stage.

Just to compound matters the World Championships would be held in Hungary, a country where canoeing is the national sport, where the paddlers are superstars and where the crowds would be huge and boisterous. If that wasn’t enough there was also the small matter of this being the qualifying competition for the 2012 Olympic Games.

So, on the startline in Szeged for the heat there was a degree of pressure but a second place eased matters – until I saw my draw for the semi-final. Tough or what! With only the top two qualifying for the ‘A’ Final (plus the fastest third place finisher) the pressure was now really on.

The race quickly developed into a four-way battle. I was firmly in the mix and scrapping with the Swede, Gustaffson, for third place. Despite my giving absolutely everything I came home fourth by just 0.3 seconds. This meant a ‘B’ Final slot and no automatic Olympic qualification.

I had pretty mixed feelings about this result. I was naturally extremely disappointed not to make the ‘A’ Final but I’d raced well, to my absolute peak and, as it turned out, my time was a personal best by three seconds. In fact, my time was the fourth fastest of anybody in all four semi-finals (my race was easily the fastest). A PB and only a whisker off the ‘A’ Final on my first K1 outing at the World Championships – I couldn’t be too disappointed.

Now, it seems, Britain will receive an automatic host nation place for K1 1000m at the Games next year. What this means is simple – I will be involved in race-offs for the right to paddle the boat in 2012, against Tim Brabants. Again!

There’s no doubt that I had to achieve a physical and mental peak for the race-off in July. To carry that supreme mental level through another month was extremely difficult. It’s no real surprise, then, that I couldn’t rise to the heights at the Olympic Test Event at Eton at the end of August. Instead, a small but quality field just had fun.

As I said, what a month! But I have another challenge to rise to shortly – I’m paddling across the Channel to raise money for Great Ormond Street and the Prince’s Charities. My aim, too, is to break the record for crossing the Channel, a shade under three hours. If you want to know more, or donate, visit www.crosschannelchallenge.com.