Jessica Fox won bronze in the women’s K1 canoe slalom at the Olympics in Rio early today [Friday].
The former Blaxland High School student finished her final run in a time of 1:00.49 to jump to the top of the leaderboard with four paddlers remaining.
But moments after she crossed the line she was awarded a two second penalty having been judged to have hit a gate in the gusty conditions to drop her to the silver medal position.
Spain’s Maialen Chourraut then produced a blistering run to win the gold medal in 98.65 seconds as Fox held on for a podium finish.
Luuka Jones from New Zealand won the silver with her clean performance of 101.82 seconds meaning Oceania had two podium finishers, a feat Fox was proud of.
Fox has been training with Chourraut in the lead-up to the Games
The bronze medal to the 22-year-old Leonay resident follows the silver she won in London four years ago. Fox is now Australia’s most successful slalom paddler.
"The only one missing now is the gold medal and I'm more motivated than ever," she said. "The lead-up to Rio, there has been a lot more expectation and lot more pressure but that's something that I've taken in my stride.
"I've had expectations on myself and I wanted to win that gold medal."
Fox had no issues with the call judges made after they ruled she touched gate 22.
"With the wind it was hard to know but with the video I'm sure it was probably there," Fox said.
- with Russell Jackson
