Noemie Fox draws inspiration from Gen Next

Paris 2024 Olympic Games champion Noemie Fox took time out during the Canoe Slalom National Championships on Saturday – where she has so far taken gold in the women’s canoe final and silver for the women’s kayak. In a wide-ranging interview which touched on the LA and Brisbane Olympics as well as ”Gen Next, Fox revealed why she sat out from the sport as a 12-year-old’.

NSWIS: Congratulations on a great Nationals so far, what has it meant to you when you consider 2013 was your first Australian Championships?

NOEMIE FOX [NF]: That makes me feel a bit old, as well but this Nationals has been super special. We’re at home and it’s been a great week.  We’ve had so many kids from the country come – a lot of kids from Tassie, as well. It’s been really special just to spend the week with them, to watch them race their nationals and then to be able to do the senior nationals and have some good competition as well. [It’s also] the first big race before we head overseas as well . . . it’s been a really cool week for us so far.

NSWIS: With the Brisbane Olympics on in six years, what’s your message for kids, including the ones who have been there this week.

NF: What I’ve been saying to a lot of them is just enjoy it as much as you can. The goal is to want to come back and to want to get more experience in the rapids and to really enjoy it with their friends. Then the pressure kind of naturally comes afterwards as well. It’s been so cool to see so many big smiles, and not many tears, because kayaking is a scary sport as well, and to see them have so much confidence – way more confidence than I had at their age – is super exciting for me. They were cheering us down as well. We’re feeling great we have a great generation coming through, and it’s been so cool to see.

NSWIS: It’s an interesting point you make about the fear for young kids doing kayak. How did you overcome that?

NF: I took a whole year off when I was 12 because I was terrified. Little by little, it’s taking baby steps – go down the rapids and what you find is what scared you one time you’re finally able to do that and then it seems smaller and smaller as you get more confident. And even confidence for me, even today, is something you need to practice. It’s never a given, you really have to build on that self-confidence and remind yourself of what you are capable of and that’s a work in progress from when you start the sport to when you’re at the Olympic level. I think it’s really cool to sometimes remind yourself sometimes of how far you’ve really come.

NSWIS: There’s just two years until the Los Angeles Olympics. Isa everything you do now – sporting wise – aimed towards that.

NF: Yeah, now it’s very LA focussed, which is kind of scary because it still feels like Paris was just last year. But it was two-and-a-half years now and we start the Olympic qualification process in July with the world championships, and it is the first of nine races. Everything we’re doing now is focussed on being a top-10 qualifier and getting that LA spot because we’re spending a lot of time in the US this year and next year – so it’s definitely now, suddenly we’re all full speed ahead towards LA.

NSWIS: And Noemie, what do you take from this event?

NF: From this event, I think it was a great opportunity to get back on the start line and deliver some good runs in Slalom in kayak and canoe. And we have a great racing opportunity in kayak cross tomorrow. I’m just trying to feel good, keep the body as fit as I can and take confidence before heading overseas for the first world cup. It’s racing as well as I can and then recovering as quickly as possible.   

Daniel Lane, NSWIS

Photos: Rachel Tingey, NSWIS