Nick Harding | @nickhdg | Sportscene - Originally a leading sprint manufacturer, Portuguese company Nelo has released a top secret slalom design with the help of London Olympic K1 gold medallist, Italy's Daniele Molmenti.

The DM350 is the easiest-to-paddle boat on whitewater with a quicker turning circle, a new seat, a revised footrest, slick updated geometry and, most importantly, improved weight to durability ratio. Daniele:

You can always have trust in it. On any course you can just think line and strategy, the boat will always answer your needs.

Nelo's trial-and-error ethos, working side by side with Daniele, has refined small elements separating them from those that do not. Each minute adjustment has delivered an incredibly fast, comfortable new design – with this Nelo aspires to make a difference, leading the way forward in slalom-boat production.

28-year old Daniele has won it all in slalom and wants to go on to be the only athlete to win everything twice! He has been European Champion (2009, 11, 12), ranked number one in the world (2010, 11, 12) and winner of the World Cup and World Championships (2010). To top that off he is current Olympic Champion and has also competed at Beijing 2008 finishing 10th; a seemingly unbeatable track record?

Daniele chose to be supported by the Nelo brand as he needed an A-team to win the Olympics. “Nelo offered me professionalism and the best support in finding the best boat for London. I am satisfied after nine boats and the gold medal! Andre [Santos] is a real professional and a great guy, Mr Nelo (who pioneered the brand) believed in me, the result  – OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL.”

Andre was appreciative to provide Daniele with his gold-winning boat;

It meant a lot, it meant we were able to deliver a boat to a guy that 'delivered', we lived up to his expectations and let him relax focusing only on his paddling.

Daniele's status in the canoe world and his expertise in boat-making have been paramount to Nelo's ever-growing reputation for haute-quality boat production.

Sportscene looks forward to seeing how this relationship will expand further onto Rio where, then 32-year old Daniele, will be aiming to retain his title.

Websites

www.danielemolmenti.it

http://slalom.nelo.eu

PS Not sure if you noticed but the colour of Daniele's new boat is red, again: The colour of the boat is the most important thing