After a double gold effort at the recent Paris Olympic Games. Jessica Fox has backed up at the 2024 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup in Spain last week to win the Women’s Canoe title.
Competing on a challenging course at La Seu, Jessica posted a clean run in the final to edge out great rivals Gabriela Satkova of Czechoslovakia and Great Britain’s Kimberley Woods into the minor placings.
Fox has now won 22 medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships, with 14 golds in Canoe 1, Canoe 1 Team, Kayak 1, and Kayak 1 team events. She has also won five silvers and three bronze medals at the titles. Her 10 gold medals in individual events make her the most successful paddler, male or female, in World Championship history.
Four days after carrying the flag to open Australia’s Paris Olympic Games campaign, Sydney University 2012 Female Blue of the Year backed up with a gold medal in the Women’s Slalom K1 and then defended her Olympic title in the Women’s Slalom C1 event.
Fox was competing at her fourth Olympics, having made her debut as an 18-year-old at the 2012 London Games where she won silver in the slalom K1. At Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Jess claimed bronze in the same event. She topped that with gold in the slalom C1 and bronze in the slalom K1 at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Having now won six individual medals she surpassed Australian greats including Ian Thorpe, Leisel Jones, Shirley Strickland, Shane Gould, Anna Meares, and Ariarne Titmus, who have won five.
Leading up to the Paris Games, the former Sydney Uni Elite Athlete Program member became the first paddler to win three gold medals at a single ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup when she won the canoe, kayak, and kayak cross events at a regatta at Augsburg, Germany. She won the canoe final on Saturday, the kayak final on Sunday and backed up on Monday to claim the kayak cross to take her World Cup gold medal tally to a record 51.
Fox became the first Australian canoe slalom athlete to compete at four Olympics when she dipped her oars in the water in the first heat in Paris. Born in Marseille, Fox moved to Australia with her family when she was four. She said she was overwhelmed to be asked to carry the flag. “It’s probably the greatest moment of my career,” she said.
