Podiums for Jess Fox as canoe slalom season kicks off

Dual Olympic medallist Jessica Fox has commenced this year’s world cup series with two podium spots at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup 1 in London (14-16 June 2019).

The NSW Institute of Sport athlete wrapped up the opening canoe slalom world cup of the 2019 season with a bronze medal in the women’s C1 on Sunday, the same colour medal she also won in the women’s K1 on Saturday.

Jessica Fox qualified for Sunday’s C1 final with a second place in the morning’s semi-final, but two gate touches at gate 13 and 14 in the final and thus four seconds in penalties saw her finish in third place in a time of 113.62.

“It was a fight the whole way. I didn’t get off to a great start, between gate two and three I slipped a little on my paddle a couple of times in that run so I felt like I didn’t have has much precision and grip, which let me make a couple mistakes in some of the staggers in the middle,” Jessica Fox explained.

“But look, there was some good stuff out there and I’m really happy to start this way and get on the podium. Obviously, the British girls Mallory and Kim put down some flying runs and they looked to be unbeatable on their home course,” Fox added.

Great Britain’s 2018 C1 team-world champions Mallory Franklin and Kimberley Woods took out the gold and silver spots after both posted a fault-free run on their home course in a time of 106.82 and 107.45 respectively.

It was a rare defeat for the four-time C1 World Champion Jessica Fox, who has had an unbeaten run in the C1 since the start of the World Cup season last year.

“I don’t ever think of it as unbeatable. You got to fight for every victory and you can’t really get used to winning, you earn your victories with the good paddling and this wasn’t my best paddling. There were girls who were much better than me today and they deserve that gold and silver medal because the paddled extremely well on their home course,” Fox said.

“I had an amazing season last year and it’s hard to back that up but I’m feeling good and paddling well and even though I didn’t show it to my potential today, I’m still pleased to come away with two medals and I look forward to next week and get to Bratislava for the second World Cup.”