European Games: Great Britain's Delicious Orie & Ryan Westley win gold
- Published
Delicious Orie claimed his third senior international boxing title after winning Commonwealth gold and bronze at the European Championships in 2022
Delicious Orie and Ryan Westley won gold as the British team added three medals to their tally on the final day of the European Games in Poland.
Commonwealth Games champion Orie, 26, produced a clinical display to beat Azerbaijan's Mahammad Abdullayev in the men's super-heavyweight boxing final.
Slalom canoeist Westley, 29, followed up a bronze in the men's team event earlier in the Games to win C1 gold.
And Mallory Franklin, also 29, clinched bronze in the women's canoe slalom.
Birmingham-based Orie, who charmed his hometown crowd en route to Commonwealth gold last year, had already booked his place at the 2024 Olympics by qualifying for the gold-medal match.
His victory was never in doubt as he controlled all three rounds to win unanimously on points.
Orie was rewarded with the honour of carrying the British flag in Sunday's closing ceremony in Krakow.
"I can't tell you how much this means to me," he said. "I'm so proud to represent Team GB - it's all I've ever wanted to do since I started boxing, and here we are. I'm a flagbearer… all my dreams are just coming true in one day!"
Westley's calculated effort in winning the men's canoe slalom, beating Spain's Miquel Trave into second place by 1.15 seconds, also clinched qualification for the Paris Games. British team-mate Adam Burgess was seventh, 7.35secs behind him.
Franklin had the fastest time in the women's final, but six penalty seconds saw her finish 3.96secs behind German winner Elena Lilik and 0.62secs down on Poland's silver medallist Klaudia Zwolinska.
Sunday's three medals pushed the British team's tally at the European Games to 49 in total, including 12 gold, 10 silver and 27 bronze. Their previous record at the European Games was 47 at Baku in 2015.
Hosts Poland finished sixth in the medal table with 50 in total - 13 gold, 19 silver and 18 bronze
- Published14 January
