Triple Olympian and triple Olympic medallist Jessica Fox will have another chance at a medal, when the first ever women’s canoe Olympic medals are decided in the women’s C1 at Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre on Thursday, 29 July 2021.
Tokyo is the first time women’s canoe is on the Olympic program and with Fox one of the campaigners and pioneers in the class, the event as well as the occasion is extra special to her.
“It is special to be here with all the C1 women, all debuting at the Olympics. It is a powerful moment for us and our sport so we are thinking of all those women who didn’t get that opportunity in the past and who fought for us to be here today, and all the little girls who will get the opportunity in the future,” she said.
A fifth place in the qualifying was enough for the four-time C1 world champion and current world number one to progress through to the next round of racing, which will see the top ten out of the 15 semi-finalists progress through to the final.
Great Britain’s Mallory Franklin won the qualifying ahead of Germany’s reigning world champion Andrea Herzog and unlike Fox, who is doubling up in both the women’s K1 and C1, they only contest the women’s canoe at Tokyo 2020.
“It was good to get out there in the C1 in the heats and obviously I just want to get through each round, get through each phase, and get to the final and then anything can happen. In our sport it’s anyone’s game, and anyone on the day could pull out the run that wins,” Fox said.
The women’s C1 semi-final will start at 14:00 local time (15:00 AEST) with Fox’s run scheduled for 14:39 local time (15:39 AEST)
The women’s C1 semi-finals and final are scheduled for Thursday, 29 July, before the men’s K1 semi-finals and final on Friday, 30 July will wrap up the Tokyo 2020 Canoe Slalom competition.
See Thursday’s race schedule here: https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/canoe-slalom/olympic-schedule-and-results-date=2021-07-28.htm
