In her long canoe slalom career, Olympian and former Blaxland High student Jessica Fox has recorded many memorable gold medal performances, but few have been as emphatic as her win in the women’s C1 at the third ICF World Cup in Germany earlier this month.
Competing in the International Canoe Federation single canoe event in Markkleeberg, Fox finished almost five seconds ahead of her closest rival, Spain’s Nuria Vilarrubla. Fox finished in 101.46; Vilarrubla second in 106.40.
“I was aggressive from start to finish, and I got those stopper moves going like I had visualised in my head, so it’s such a nice feeling when a run comes together like that,” Fox said.
Organisers removed two of the gates from the women’s C1 run, primarily to fit in with TV schedule and to make for smoother finals.
“It’s like we are going back 40 years to when they tried to do this for the K1 [single kayak] women,” Fox said.
“We’re a new category, everyone else has been here since 1949, and we’ve been here since 2010. The girls are improving, I hope this is not going to be a trend for future World Cups. I’d like to see the girls do the same course as the boys.”
Fox’s sister Noemie picked up six seconds of penalties to finish eighth in the final.
Jessica Fox went on to win silver behind Germany’s Ricarda Funk in the women’s K1 a day later.
She now turns her attention to the U23 World Championships in Slovakia next month, before the final two World Cups and the 2017 World Championships in France.