Dual Olympic medallist Jessica Fox has kicked off this year’s world cup series with two podium spots at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup 1 in London (14-16 June 2019).
Fox wrapped up the opening canoe slalom world cup of the 2019 season with a bronze medal in the women’s C1 on Sunday, the same colour medal she also won in the women’s K1 on Saturday. See Saturday’s media release HERE.
Fellow Australian Daniel Watkins (TAS) also made Sunday’s finals and finished tenth in the men’s K1.
Jessica Fox qualified for Sunday’s C1 final with a second place in the morning’s semi-final, but two gate touches at gate 13 and 14 in the final and thus four seconds in penalties saw her finish in third place in a time of 113.62.
“It was a fight the whole way. I didn’t get off to a great start, between gate two and three I slipped a little on my paddle a couple of times in that run so I felt like I didn’t have has much precision and grip, which let me make a couple mistakes in some of the staggers in the middle,” Jessica Fox explained.
“But look, there was some good stuff out there and I’m really happy to start this way and get on the podium. Obviously, the British girls Mallory and Kim put down some flying runs and they looked to be unbeatable on their home course,” Fox added. Great Britain’s 2018 C1 team-world champions Mallory Franklin and Kimberley Woods took out the gold and silver spots after both posted a fault-free run on their home course in a time of 106.82 and 107.45 respectively.
It was a rare defeat for the four-time C1 World Champion Jessica Fox, who has had an unbeaten run in the C1 since the start of the World Cup season last year.
“I don’t ever think of it as unbeatable. You got to fight for every victory and you can’t really get used to winning, you earn your victories with the good paddling and this wasn’t my best paddling. There were girls who were much better than me today and they deserve that gold and silver medal because the paddled extremely well on their home course,” Fox said.
“I had an amazing season last year and it’s hard to back that up but I’m feeling good and paddling well and even though I didn’t show it to my potential today, I’m still pleased to come away with two medals and I look forward to next week and get to Bratislava for the second World Cup.”
Team mate Daniel Watkins is also looking forward to the second world cup round after promising performances in the men’s K1 on Sunday. Watkins started the day with a fourth place in the semi-final to make his second ever world cup final on the senior level where he finished tenth.
“This was my second ever final on the senior level, so I’m pretty happy to be here for the first race of the season and I think this will make me feel more comfortable throughout the season now and be able to attack it more next week and hopefully get back into the final in Bratislava,” Watkins said.
Watkins posted strong raw race times of just over 90 seconds in both the semi-final and final (90.89), but a number of penalties cost him dearly and saw him drop into tenth place.
“I don’t think I took too many risks, I just got severely off line and being a final I tried to not spend too much time correcting and getting back on line. I tried to keep the speed on the boat and see if I could make the moves from where I was and it was way too tight in the end,” Watkins said about his final run.
“But I’m happy with a fair bit of the run and it was a good learning experience anyway. Apart from the section between gate four and ten (two gates missed) it was pretty much how I wanted to paddle the final and probably stacked up not too bad in the end.”
The men’s C1 was won by Rio 2016 Olympic champion Joseph Clark (GBR) in a time of 90.35 ahead of Rio bronze medallist Jiri Prskavec (CZE, 91.21).In other Australian results on Sunday, Noemie Fox just missed out of the women’s C1 top-ten final in 12th, while Rosalyn Lawrence finished 22nd.
In the men’s K1, Tim Anderson (NSW) and Lucien Delfour (NSW) finished 26thand 34threspectively.
The ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup in London was the start of a three-week world cup series, with the next World Cup following next weekend in Bratislava, Slovakia (21-23 June 2019)
See all results HERE.
Sunday, 16 June 2019
RESULTS WOMEN’S C1
- FRANKLIN Mallory (GBR) 106.82 (0 penalties)
- WOODS Kimberley (GBR) 107.45 (0)
- FOX Jessica (AUS) 113.62 (4)
RESULTS MEN’S K1 (Sunday, 16 June 2019)
- CLARKE Joseph (GBR) 90.35 (0)
- PRSKAVEC Jiri (CZE) 91.21 (0)
- AIGNER Hannes (GER) 92.04 (0)
10. WATKINS Daniel (AUS) 198.90 (106)
Saturday, 15 June 2019
RESULTS WOMEN’S K1 (Saturday, 15 June 2019)
- FRANKLIN Mallory (GBR) 99.42 (0)
- FUNK Ricarda (GER) 101.86 (0)
- FOX Jessica (AUS) 105.39 (2)
Overall Team Australia 2019 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup 1 – Results
Women’s C1:
Jessica Fox (NSW) – 3rd
Noemie Fox (NSW) – 12th
Rosalyn Lawrence (NSW) – 22nd
Men’s K1:
Daniel Watkins (TAS) – 10th
Tim Anderson (NSW) – 26th
Lucien Delfour (NSW) – 34th
Men’s C1:
Ian Borrows (NSW) 20th
Daniel Watkins (TAS) – 23rd
Steven Lowther (WA) – 47th
Women’s K1:
Jessica Fox (NSW) – 3rd
Rosalyn Lawrence (NSW) – 24th
Noemie Fox(NSW) – 26th
Lee Valley was the first of four World Cups, followed by a World Cup final. The circuit continues in Bratislava, Slovakia and Ljubljana, Slovenia the following weekends.
All of the finals from the World Cup series and World Championships will also be available on the Olympic Channel
2019 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Season
– World Cup 1: Lee Valley, UK, June 14-16 June.
– World Cup 2: Bratislava, Slovakia, June 21-23.
– World Cup 3: Tacen, Slovenia, June 28-20.
– World Cup 4: Markkleeberg, Germany, 30 August-1 September.
– World Cup final: Prague, Czech Republic, 6-8 September.
– ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships, La Seu, Spain, 25-29 September 2019
– Tokyo 2020 Canoe Slalom Olympic Test Event, Tokyo, Japan, 25-27 October 2019
See the 2019 Paddle Australian Canoe Slalom World Cup Team here: http://paddle.org.au/canoe-slalom-athlete-profiles/
Head to @auspaddleteam on Facebook for more athlete Interviews & race videos.
