Rattcliffe has been the head coach of the British Canoeing slalom podium programme since 2013, with their team securing one gold and a silver medal in the discipline at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Under his tutelage, the British team also enjoyed medal success at the Under-23 World and European Championships last year.

"It is a privilege and honour to be offered this role, I'm extremely passionate about canoeing and British Canoeing," said Ratcliffe.

"We're now looking forward to developing our plans for Tokyo 2020 across all of our disciplines, it's going to be a challenge and one which I'm looking forward to.

"I'm keen to put all of our athletes right at the heart of what we do and to operate, as I always have done, with transparency and honesty.

"Starting out as an athlete myself, becoming a coach and now being appointed as performance director, I've developed an insight over the years, into many different aspects of our sport.

"I'm excited about working with our fantastic teams across all of the programmes to become the best we can be."

Anderson announced he was stepping down from the performance director role earlier this year, having spent 20 years in the post.

This culminated in Britain's most successful Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro last year, when Britain won four medals, two golds and two silvers.

They then went on to win five medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, three golds and two bronzes, as canoeing made its debut on the Games programme.

Anderson acted as team leader for the British Canoeing Olympic programme at five successive Games, dating back to Sydney 2000.

British Canoeing chief executive David Joy expressed his belief they had selected the right candidate for the role in Ratcliffe, who won numerous World and European Championship medals during his career as an athlete.

"We are delighted that Paul has accepted the role of performance director," Joy said.

"His personal values, his athlete centered approach and his vision for the future persuaded us he was the best candidate for the role.

"He came through a very competitive three-stage selection process and was up against medal winning performance directors from other sports.

"Paul's appointment is hugely important to our ambitions for Tokyo 2020 and beyond.

"I have no doubt that Paul will be as successful in this new role as he has been as an athlete, coach and programme manager."

Ratcliffe will take up the performance director post within the next three months.