The Stoke-on-Trent paddler, the fourth-fastest finisher from the semi-finals, put in a superb run save a small error on upstream gate 17, but recovered at the bottom of the course, crossing the finish in 96.84 seconds for the fastest run of the final with three men left to challenge.
Burgess was still sitting in gold medal position when home favourite Nicolas Gestin, the reigning world silver medallist, left his best run for last, destroying the Briton’s leading time in 91.36, 5.48 seconds faster than the British runner-up, with Slovakia’s Matej Benus rounding out the podium.
It was redemption for Burgess, who avenged his maiden final from three summers ago in Tokyo, where the now-32-year-old finished fourth and missed out on a medal by just 0.16 seconds.