CANOE: Jessica Fox has continued her historic run this year and her best season yet after winning both the C1 and K1 overall World Cups at the 2018 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup finals in la Seu d’Urgell, Spain over the weekend.
Fox put the finishing touch on her history-making C1 slalom World Cup season with a fifth World Cup victory in the C1 on Sunday, maintaining her perfect record, sealing the overall season title and becoming the first athlete in the history of canoe slalom to have won every race in a season.
“It’s awesome, yesterday was the first time I’ve ever won the K1 title, and to back it up today, it’s awesome to do the double,” Fox said.
“2018 has been special. To finish off with five gold in the C1 and to put in a really hard run to finish off in La Seu was very special, and to win the overall World Cup in both categories is something I’ve never done," she added.
“It’s very rewarding. I’ve had a great season and I’m super happy with the way I’ve been paddling.
But Fox concedes there is still work to be done, with her biggest competition of the season still ahead of her.
“The season is not over yet, we’ve still got the World Championships, and that’s the most important one,” she said.
The three-time C1 World Champion made sure of the overall win with victory in Sunday’s final, her time of 111.14 putting her just ahead of Great Britain’s 2017 World Champion, Mallory Franklin, on 112.18.
“I’m absolutely thrilled, it’s been an amazing World Cup season,” Fox said.
“I heard that Mallory Franklin (GBR) and Nadine Weratschnig (AUT) had put down some fast times, so I gave it everything in that race and I’m thrilled to come away with that overall title.”
Until last weekend’s World Cup 4 in Tacen, Slovenia (31 August – 2 September), the two-time Olympic medallist, had been unbeaten in both the women’s K1 and C1, winning golden doubles at the World Cups in Liptovsky (Slovakia), Krakow (Poland) and Augsburg (Germany), a record without peer in the history of both men’s and women’s paddling
Her unbeaten run in the C1 was completemented by five out of five finals, including three gold and one one silver medal in the K1 this season.
Twenty-one year-old, younger sister Noemi Fox also fared well, making the C1 final and finishing in seventh place and seventh overall in the World Cup standings.
Fellow Aussie Lucien Delfour finished second in the men's K1 final, with a World Cup standing of 12th, while Ros Lawrence finished 13th in the women's C1 semi-finals and finished the overall World Cup standings in the C1 at seventh and K1 at eighth.
The Australian team heads over to Rio de Janeiro to contest the 2018 ICF Canoe Slalm World Championships at the end of the month.
