Double gold glory as Fox stamps dominance on World Cup

New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder, Jessica Fox, has continued to go from strength to strength, winning back-to-back gold medals at the 2023 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup in Prague.

Fox started the weekend off in style with a win in the women’s kayak final on Friday, before backing it up to claim a second gold medal in the women’s canoe final.

On the eve of her 29th birthday, Fox started as the fourth fastest paddler, putting down a very competitive time of 109.13 seconds. Andora’s Monica Doria Vilarrubla finished in second, with Czech paddler Gabriela Satkova rounding out the podium in third on her home course.

“I’m so happy, it was a really tight final. Gabi and Monica both put down really good runs, so it was so close at the finish. But I’m so pleased to take the win today,” Fox said.

“It’s a great way to start the season, obviously last week I had an amazing race in Augsburg and I wanted to try and back that up this weekend.

“Yesterday took a lot out of me, both mentally and physically so just to put it out there again today is awesome.

“I’m really grateful to be here back in Prague and to all the fans who are out there even in the rain…thank you to everyone.”

The canoe gold medal now takes Fox’s medal tally so far this season to three gold, with three World Cup events still to come: Tacen, Slovenia (15-18 June), La Seu, Spain (31 August – 3 September), Paris, France (5-8 October).

NSWIS athlete Noemie Fox finished 24th in the women’s canoe semi final, with fellow Aussie Brodie Crawford finishing 22nd in the men’s event.

The Aussies will return to the course in Prague today in the new Olympic discipline of Kayak Cross. Time trials get underway from 5pm AEST, before the heats commence at 7.05pm AEST.

Time trials and heats action can be streamed live via ICF’s Recast platform from 5pm AEST, and from 8pm AEST the quarterfinals, semi finals and finals will be available to view on Fox Sports 507 and Kayo Sports.

Story and photo courtesy of Paddle Australia/Phoebe Maher