Tauranga kayaker Mike Dawson paddled to second place at the Extreme Kayak World Championships in Austria over the weekend.

The 27-year-old whitewater kayaking star finished behind Great Britain's Joe Morley after some intense racing on the legendary Wellerbrucke rapids in Austria's Otztal valley.

Mike Dawson is all concentration at the adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championship. Photo: Jens Klatt.

Dawson's fellow Kiwi teammates Jamie Sutton, third in the men's event, and Toni George, silver in the women's field, also made it on to the podium.

Morely, 25, out-paddled the world's best kayakers in his final run, claiming the second title of his career.

France's Nouria Newman also repeated her 2013 triumph after seeing off George in the women's event.

And for two-time world championship runner-up Dawson, while it's good to be back on the podium, it's even better to be back on the water.

'Last year I had surgery,” he says. 'I broke my back the year before, so it's pretty rad just to be paddling again.

'Every year it gets harder and harder. There are more guys making this their core thing, their core sport and they're training hard all year.”

'There are other races popping up that are really good and challenging everyone, so when they come here for the pinnacle event of the year, everyone is just there to win.

'That's pretty hard when you've had success in the past with all these young fellows nipping on your heels and wanting to take your podium spot.

'So it's really tough, but a lot of fun.”

The third place for Rotorua's Sutton means he pipped older brother Sam in the process and keeps his course record of 55.73 seconds.

'I'm pretty stoked to be in third place, this is the highest I've ever been,” says Jamie.

'I'm a little bit disappointed for Sam, because I thought this was going to be his year again, and it would have been awesome to see him back up on top.

'But I'm also super stoked to be here with Mike as well, and Joe is a good friend, so I'm pretty happy. It's a good podium this year I think.”

More than 130 of the world's finest whitewater, slalom and freestyle paddlers from 25 countries competed for world championship honours on the Wellerbrücke rapids – a section of the glacier-fed Ötztaler Ache River considered to be one of the most difficult whitewater sections on the planet.

The Wellerbrucke rapids are solid class 5 whitewater, both technically difficult and dangerous.