Redemption for Australian canoeist Jessica Fox, securing her second World Cup victory

Jessica Fox has claimed her second World Cup victory in less than a week at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup in Prague.

Fox secured a gold medal triumph at the Tokyo Olympics in the women’s C1 canoe slalom event at the Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre course, beating reigning Olympic champion Maialen Chourraut from Spain, as well as Germany’s Andrea Herzog. 

Now she has backed that up with another World Cup gold. 

The Australian was the fastest qualifier in the women’s kayak on Thursday and backed up that form to also place first in Friday’s semi final.

Then in a performance which emulated her 6.51s victory in the women’s canoe final last week in Augsburg, Fox put in a near-flawless run in the final [98.95s] to claim the gold with a 4.63s margin over Germany’s Ricarda Funk.

Fox claims her second gold medal in the women’s Water Slalom World Cup K1 final race in Prague, Czech Republic

Fox shows off the Olympic gold medal she won in Tokyo. She has now backed that up with two World Cup golds

Fox putting in the hard yards during the Canoe Slalom International Training Week at Lee Valley White Water Centre on May 24 in London

Great Britain’s Mallory Franklin was more than a second further back in third.

It was a result full of redemption for Fox, who last week missed out on a shot at the kayak podium after missing a gate in the semi final.

‘It was really special,’ Fox said. 

‘I love racing in Prague, the atmosphere is like nowhere else and I was feeling really good this week.

‘I won the heats, I won the semis, so I thought to go out and put down a run to be proud of, to try and attack it, and it turned out pretty well. I really challenged myself to push the limits.

‘I thought I could go under 100. There are so many moves on that course that are really tricky, and a lot of things had to go to plan for me to go under 100.

‘Last week I was really frustrated not to make the final after making a silly mistake, so I really wanted to put down some good paddling.’

Lucien Delfour qualified for the men’s kayak final for the second time in as many weeks, finishing eighth.

Earlier in the day Jessica (6th) and Noemie Fox (25th) both qualified for the women’s canoe semi final.

Brodie Crawford (20th) will be on the start line for the men’s canoe semi-final, but Kaylen Bassett (32nd) and Tristan Carter (40th) were unable to progress from the heat.