Jessica Fox continues to go from strength to strength with a gold medal double at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup round in Prague.
On the eve of her 29th birthday, Australia’s Olympic champion Fox triumphed in the women’s canoe final on Saturday, a day after collecting the kayak title.
Fox started as the fourth-fastest paddler and clocked 109.13 seconds to win from Andora’s Monica Doria Vilarrubla with Czech paddler Gabriela Satkova rounding out the podium in third on her home course.
The win takes Fox’s medal tally so far this season to three gold, with three World Cup events still to come in Tacen, Slovenia (15-18 June), La Seu, Spain (31 August – 3 September), Paris, France (5-8 October).
‘Great way to start the season’
“I’m so happy, it was a really tight final. Gabi and Monica both put down really good runs, so it was so close at the finish. But I’m so pleased to take the win today,” Fox said.
“It’s a great way to start the season, obviously last week I had an amazing race in Augsburg and I wanted to try and back that up this weekend.
“Yesterday took a lot out of me, both mentally and physically so just to put it out there again today is awesome.”
Noemie Fox finished 24th in the women’s canoe semi final, with fellow Australian Brodie Crawford finishing 22nd in the men’s event.
The Aussies will return to the course in Prague on Sunday in the new Olympic discipline of kayak cross.
-AAP
