Ten-time world champion Jessica Fox has secured Australia the first canoe slalom quota spot for next year’s Olympic Games after locking in a place in the semi-final of the women’s individual K1 at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in La Seu, Spain.
Rio Olympians Jessica Fox and Ian Borrows showed their experience in La Seu on Thursday with both paddlers going straight through to the next round of racing following a fourth and fifth place in the women’s K1 and men’s C1 heats respectively.
U23 paddler Tristan Carter will complete the Australian line-up in Saturday’s first round of semi-finals after qualifying for his first ever World Championships semi-final in the men’s C1.
A fourth place in the heat of the women’s K1 was enough for Australia’s paddling star and most successful female paddler of all time Jessica Fox to qualify for Saturday’s semi-final.
“The goal for today was to qualify into the semi and put down a smooth and flowing run, so I’m happy with that. I made a little mistake but I really pulled hard to the finish so I think I ended up in fourth which is good enough for today and now I can focus on the C1 (heats on Friday).”
Fox pulled out a strong K1 run, following her gold medal win in the women’s C1 team event together with sister Noemie Fox and team mate Rosalyn Lawrence the day before.
“Yesterday was so nice. It was such a great moment to share with Noemie and with Ros and to hear the anthem to start the week was lovely. We had a great time on the water in that C1 run. It’s always nice to start like that,” Fox said about the extra energy she took from the team events.
“The course changes from the teams to the heats and then again from the heats to the semis so even though we got a paddle yesterday it wasn’t a practice for today. We had to refocus, watch the demos and recover for today.”
The refocus did not go to plan for Rosalyn Lawrence and Noemie Fox who missed out of the semi-finals qualification. Lawrence finished 48th in the first run with three touches and just missed out of the top ten progression with a tight 13th place in the second run of the heats.
Noemie Fox had one touch and posted a 29th in the first run and added a 28th (3 touches) in the second run.
Fellow Rio Olympian Ian Borrows kicked-off the first day of the individual events in La Seu with an impressive fast and clean run that saw him finish in fifth place in the men's C1 heats.
Tasmanian Daniel Watkins did not progress through to the next round in the men’s C1 following a 56th place in the first run with four gate touches and a 21st place in the second run.
Doubling up in both the men’s C1 and K1 events, Watkins will have another chance in the men’s kayak heats on Friday.
Racing at the world championships continues on Friday with the heats in the women’s C1 and men’s K1 events.
In the race for Olympic quotas to be decided at the 2019 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships, eighteen different countries, including Australia as well as 2020 Olympic host nation Japan, will contest the women’s K1 semi-final on Saturday.
Under ICF rules, the top eighteen countries, excluding Japan, will earn Olympic tickets and with Australia amongst these eighteen, the first quota spot is locked away ahead of racing on Saturday. Japan automatically qualifies.
In the men’s C1, where the top eleven countries will all earn quotas, there are 16 different nations represented in the semi-finals, leaving the fight for quotas open until Saturday’s semi-finals.
The men’s C1 and women’s K1 semi-finals and finals are scheduled for Saturday, before the world championships wrap on Sunday with the women’s C1 and men’s semi-finals and finals.
