Fox paddles to another World Cup medal as Paris looms
Three-time Olympic medallist Jessica Fox has bagged another World Cup medal, winning silver in the women’s kayak final at the ICF World Cup 2 in Prague, Czech Republic.
Jessica at the Olympic course in Paris Pic: Facebook
With just under 50 days to go until the Paris Games, Fox collected her second World Cup medal in a week after winning gold in Augsburg, Germany, in the women’s C1 – the event in which she is the reigning Olympic champion.
Friday’s racing in Prague took place under revised racing conditions after high river levels forced the postponement of the opening day of competition.
There was just one heat run in both the men’s and women’s K1, with the top ten in both progressing straight to the final.
After qualifying into the kayak final in second place, Fox recorded the fastest time on course, crossing in 90.29 seconds.
However she was docked four seconds for touching two gates, with her total just behind Emma Vuitton (94.12), with the French paddler scoring the biggest result of her career with her clean run.
Olympic K1 champion, Germany’s Ricarda Funk was in third in 94.40, also incurring a four-second penalty.
Fox won bronze in the K1 in Tokyo.
“It’s crazy for me because they are two paddlers I watched when I was younger on TV,” 20-year-old Vuitton said.
“I’m super happy about my final, it was not perfect but I tried to push hard in the bottom of the course and I’m happy with the result.”
Giovanni De Gennaro broke through for his first ever win in Prague, with the race opening up when the top two Czech paddlers, Olympic champion Jiri Prskavec and multiple-World Cup winner Vit Prindis, missed the final.
The Italian finished more than two seconds clear of Poland’s Mateusz Polaczyk and Czech Jakub Krejci.
Fox will be back in action in the heats of women’s C1 with the same condensed racing conditions in place.
The kayak cross competition on Sunday doubles as the final Olympic qualifier, with Fox’s younger sister Noemie looking to book a berth to Paris.
AAP
