Jessica Fox aims for Golden Birthday Celebrations in Prague

The Australian Canoe Slalom team has arrived in Prague ahead of the second World Cup event this weekend, providing New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship athlete Jessica Fox with an opportunity to celebrate her  birthday in style.

Prague has been a happy “playground” for Fox, the Olympic champion, and there are hopes it will yield gold for her as the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup moves to Czechia this week.

Fresh from winning the women’s C1 at the World Cup in Augsburg, Germany, Fox will be among the eight Aussies competing in World Cup 2 in Prague from 8-11  June.

Fox has claimed gold in Prague the past two years, in the women’s kayak event last year and the women’s canoe event in 2021. She will contest both events in Prague this week, the event coinciding with her 29^th birthday on Sunday 11 June.

“Prague is always an awesome World Cup because the atmosphere’s incredible,” said Fox. “The Czechs really get behind the athletes, they love the sport, so the river-bank will be packed.

“The course is a playground, it’s so much fun, you can paddle from the bottom all the way back up to the top and you can spend hours just playing with the water and learning different skills … I love Prague.”

Noemie Fox, another NSWIS athlete, will also lineup in both the women’s canoe and women’s kayak events.

Dual Olympian (and NSWIS athlete) Lucien Delfour also got off to a promising start in the World Cup season last week, narrowly missing the podium at the opening event in Germany, finishing fourth in the men’s kayak final. Delfour’s teammates Ben Pope and Tim Anderson will also look to improve on their results from World Cup 1.

Anderson will also be looking to go from strength to strength, after finishing fifth in the Kayak Cross at the opening World Cup event. Anderson was the fastest qualifier in the men’s Kayak Cross Time Trials, before an error on the first up gate in the semi final saw him narrowly miss out on a finals berth.

Kaylen Bassett, who will contest the men’s canoe alongside Tristan Carter and Brodie Crawford, said the whole team is aiming to lift in the “amazing atmosphere” of Prague.

“Prague is amazing, it’s fast-paced, it’s hard staggers and full-on, but it’s really great to watch,” Bassett , a NSWIS athlete, said. “It’s really competitive, it’s often quite tight racing.”

2023 Paddle Australia Canoe Slalom Team – World Cup 2

Tim Anderson (Men’s Kayak) Kaylen Bassett (Men’s Canoe) Tristan Carter (Men’s Canoe) Brodie Crawford (Men’s Canoe) Lucien Delfour (Men’s Kayak) Jessica Fox (Women’s Kayak and Canoe) Noemie Fox (Women’s Kayak and Canoe) Ben Pope (Men’s Kayak)

The 2023 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup 2 gets underway with kayak heats on Thursday 8 June from 10pm AEST.  Canoe heats and kayak finals will be held on Friday, canoe finals on Saturday and Kayak Cross time trials, heats and finals on Sunday.

Heats and semi-finals will be broadcast live via Planet Canoe’s new streaming platform Recast – click here to find out more

The finals sessions will be broadcast via Kayo Sports (see schedule below).

Saturday 10 June | 12:45am – 2am AEST | Live on Kayo Sports

Saturday 10 June | 7:30pm – 9:00pm AEST | Live on Kayo Sports or Fox Sports 507

Sunday 11 June | 8:00pm – 9:30pm AEST | Live on Kayo Sports or Fox Sports 507

For more information on ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Prague click here.

Story courtesy of Paddle Australia