The Instagram picture Adam Burgess must update after silver in canoe slalom at Olympics

There is a photo from 20 years ago of Adam Burgess alongside his current Great Britain team-mate Joe Clarke. Campbell Walsh is in between them, their hero after his silver medal in Athens in 2004. Clarke and Burgess grin and grimace on either side, both not quite teenagers.

These days Walsh coaches Clarke, and the trio re-took the photo before this Games. Walsh had a silver medal emoji above his feet, Clarke a gold for his win in Rio in 2016. Burgess’s symbol was a chocolate bar next to the words ‘Tokyo’, where he missed out on a medal, finishing 0.16 seconds away from bronze.

Being deprived of a podium finish by such a narrow margin would crush most athletes. Instead Burgess used it as inspiration. Now his photo with Clarke and Walsh needs a third version, each with medals around their neck.

Burgess took silver in the canoe slalom final, only beaten at the last by Frenchman Nicolas Gestin who was roared home by a raucous crowd. They willed on every competitor but exploded for their countryman, manic shouts of “Allez!” all the way to his finishing time of 91.36 seconds, more than five seconds quicker than Burgess. There were only two seconds between his silver and Tristan Carter, of Australia, in ninth.

But times are not important when you bring home a medal. Burgess raced impeccably, recovering from a mid-course correction which undid several of his competitors and finishing with fury. So much effort and planning goes into moments like this and you will struggle to find an Olympian who does not spend most of their waking hours “visualising”. Burgess is no different, although what he was picturing is.

“I had this image in my head of hugging my coach Craig [Morris] at the finish line and we’re all ugly crying. That’s exactly how it panned out,” he said. “I’ve been trying to visualise success in this race in the build-up and I’ve not been able to do it without getting emotional.”

One mental technique he should not need help with is the meditative qualities of proper breathing. Burgess runs the Inspired Breath Academy which promises students “mastery in the art of breathing.” But sometimes even the experts are fallible. “I lost a lot of control of my breathing at the end,” he said. “But the important thing is I was in control before.

“In those moments before races breathing rate increases and it can make you feel more nervous. I’m thinking about that from the moment I get on the water. My heart rate is up and I can feel it churning in my chest through that whole warm-up, but my breath is under control and ultimately that’s what keeps me present.”

Even with the mindfulness skills of a master yogi, a lot goes through your head when all of the practice pays off. The emotion came for Burgess on the podium, where he wore a friendship bracelet decorated with his name and the letters GB, made by his coach’s daughters.

“I was thinking about myself as a 10, 11-year-old dreaming of that moment. I was thinking about Olympic Games gone by when I was watching, in 2004 in Athens, Beijing. I was thinking about my parents, my family, everyone out here in the stands here to support. I was thinking about the disappointment in Tokyo, so much.”

From the surprise paddle sports hotspot of Stoke-on-Trent, he was a clubmate with Clarke at the Stafford and Stone Canoe Club which has produced 10 Olympians to date. This was by a distance the most ferocious atmosphere he had competed in. “We’re not a huge sport, we don’t get to show off often in front of so many people. I was trying to lock into that and just show everyone how much I was enjoying myself.”

Canoeists like him make the slalom look misleadingly easy, but every metre is a battle when competing with the artificial currents. There was one especially horrible gate to navigate, the 17th, which required going through backwards at a point where the water looked at its fiercest. Then there is the fun police, officials who award two-second time penalties for any hint of body, paddle or boat making contact with a gate. It is a race-ruining 50 seconds if you miss a gate entirely.

That was the punishment for favourite Benjamin Savsek, which opened up the competition for Burgess. He followed the Slovenian and set a new leading time with three rivals left to race. Burgess knew that any of them finishing slower than him would mean a medal, but that did not make it any less agonising. But what is an extra 10 minutes of pain when you have been waiting for three years?