In the water warfare that is Kayak Cross, the number of random disasters that can occur in a minute or two is so great that simply completing the course can be an achievement.

Joe Clarke was recently hit on the head by the pointy end of someone else’s boat – ‘A boat hit me in the head. They glued it back on,’ he said.

He was defeated in the Olympic final when all four competitors fell into the five-metre water and a German boat veered off course and got in his way.

It was a serious setback that left Clarke five strokes behind in the four-man race, rather than the power of leading from the front where he could have avoided hitting the opposition boat. Although the 31-year-old world champion made headway to take silver, New Zealand’s Finn Butcher took the advantage and never looked back.

Clarke said German kayaker Noah Hegge apologised to him for going off the ramp and into his path to the right.

Joe Clarke (left) and Kimberley Woods (right) took medals in Ski Cross on Monday

Team GB’s Clarke celebrates after winning the silver medal in the men’s Cross Country Skiing final

Clarke entered the event as a big favourite but had to settle for second place

Kimberley Woods (left) won the bronze medal after a tough battle and looked set to lose the race

This seems surprising, considering that the aim of the hugely popular new Olympic sport of cross-country skiing, previously known as ‘extreme slalom’, is to ram other boats to thwart competitors’ attempts to negotiate the seven-obstacle course.

Briton Kimberley Woods attempted a last-minute manoeuvre to hold off Australian Noemie Fox in the women’s four-boat final after being knocked out of first place by French athlete Angele Hug.

Woods failed to tip his boat over Fox, but his attempt to do so allowed Hug and Germany’s Elena Lilik to row past him, meaning he was the last person across the finish line. “I could have gone for silver, but I thought, ‘I’m in the Olympic final. I’ll go for gold,'” he said of his evil plan.

The German was disqualified on a technicality, so Woods, prepared for disappointment, took the bronze medal. This was definitely not The Boat Race.

Fellow British competitor Mallory Franklin was disqualified in the quarter-finals for putting her boat through an Eskimo roll, or ski roll, later than expected, which must be performed just below an obstacle called a ‘roll bar’.

That led Franklin to suggest that the three-year-old sport was being included in the Olympics too early. “There were conversations going on during the heat phase about what a tumbling is or isn’t or what’s considered proper,” Franklin said. “Maybe it was included a little too early.”

The enthusiastic crowd of 10,500 did not feel that way about it. A musical show, an enthusiastic presenter and the excitement and thrill of a series of 45-second crazy races over 210 metres created a spectacle in the sun.

The established Olympic event of canoe sprinting – rowing fast across a flat stretch of water – suddenly felt heavy by comparison. In keeping with the freestyle events of skateboarding and BMX, this is a sport that will continue to have Olympic significance for a different generation.

But he won his second medal at the Paris Games after one of his rivals was penalised

Chaotic Ski Cross event at Paris Olympics becomes favourite for many fans

There is a snobbery in the view of some that Woods (who also won a bronze medal in canoe slalom) argues is unjustified. “A lot of people criticize it, say it looks stupid, but come here and watch it,” he says of the sport. “It’s absolutely incredible. The atmosphere is crazy. It’s great to be a part of it.”

It certainly poses a huge physical and strategic challenge. Racing involves going up and down poles and executing that mid-race kayak roll. Not to mention the calculated planning the kayakers have to do to beat a particular competitor. As they sit at the top of the ramp waiting to ride the wave, the kayakers try to figure out who will try to hit them.

Clarke, the sport’s reigning world champion, admitted gold was his target but dismissed the idea that he could now call it quits at the age of 31. ‘Absolutely not,’ he said. ‘I mean, we’re just getting started, aren’t we? The fun factor is still there. When he’s gone, that’s when I’ll finish my career. But right now, I’m on cloud nine.’ The spectators, steaming under a clear sky, seemed to share that sentiment.