Olympian and former Blaxland High student Jessica Fox has started the season strongly with gold and silver medals at the Canoe Slalom Australian Open.
Held in Penrith on February 16 and 17, Fox faced off against the best paddlers in the world, to win the women’s C1 (single canoe) and place second in the women’s K1 (single kayak) behind Ricarda Funk from Germany.
“This the first event of the season for me and to take a win was really cool,” Fox said after the final.
“It was a fast race, I saw the times before starting so I knew I had to lift my game a little bit. I had a penalty on that main wave, so I really had to make sure the rest was perfect.”
Fox’s sister Noemie also made the podium, with silver in the C1 U23-category.
In the men’s C1 which was won by Britain’s triple Olympic silver medalist David Florence, Lapstone paddler Ian Borrows just missed out on a top 10 finish at 11th.
The paddlers will line-up again next weekend for the Oceania Championships, and are hoping a big crowd will cheer them on.
“This is a really awesome place to come and bring the family and see the best in the world. There are 300 athletes here from over 30 countries, so it’s World Cup standard,” Fox said. “It’s actually bigger than a World Cup and you don’t get that every day in Penrith, so we are pretty lucky to have it and I think it’ll be some really good action next weekend and we would love the support for the Aussies”.