CANOE/KAYAK SLALOM: Australia’s Jessica Fox has created history by winning a third consecutive women’s C1 title at the Canoe Slalom World Championships in London.
The 21-year-old said she was motivated by failing to defend her K1 world title 24 hours earlier.
Her win makes her the first woman in both K1 and C1 to win three consecutive titles, and she joins only two other paddlers – one of the others being her father, Richard, to win a hat-trick of World Championships.
Fox dominated the final, one of only two athletes to complete the course without a penalty, and finishing a massive 4.91 seconds ahead of the Czech Republic’s Katerina Hoskova in a time of 113.51 seconds.
Australia’s Alison Borrows finished eighth.
“I’m relieved,” Fox said.
“There’s joy and elation to put together such a good run. I‘m really happy with the way I lived that race, and how I lived with the whole experience, because it was a tough final.”
Fox said she was thrilled to have entered the record books as the first woman to win three consecutive titles in either the C1 or K1.
“It’s not something I try and think about, but it’s really special to defend a world title, and to win three in a row is awesome,” Fox said.
“I’m a bit disappointed to be fourth in the K1, but I think it did motivate me for today.”
Fox said the C1 competition has become a lot tougher since she first started her winning run three years ago.
The discipline is not on the program for Rio next year, but is expected to be contested in Tokyo in 2020.
“A lot of the girls are now specialising in C1, while I’m focusing on K1,” Fox said.
“It’s definitely a lot more competitive.”
In further good news for Australia, Victoria’s Jaxon Merritt missed the men’s K1 final but his result was good enough to secure Australia a start in the 2016 Olympics.
“After having a good qualification run here, it does build my confidence a bit,” Merritt said.
“But I’ve got to get faster. Those boys are going pretty quick.”
Western Australia’s Robin Jeffery missed the final of the men’s C1, and also just finished outside an Olympic qualification position.
“I made a mistake on number 11, and then went into my shell a bit,” Jeffery said.
“I’m really disappointed with my response, so I’m absolutely gutted. But I’m really looking forward to trying to qualify a spot at the Continentals.”
“To make a top ten in such a great field is great for my confidence. Even before this race I knew that on my day I can make top five.”
The teams finals followed the individual events with Fox winning a second gold medal in the women’s C1 event alongside Borrows and Lawrence.
While the men’s C1 and K1 teams finished 10th and 21st respectively.
AAP
