This has been a great season for Australia’s Jessica Fox, who made history by winning both the C-1 and K-1 races in the first three World Cups of this season and could make more at the Slalom World Championships this week in Rio de Janeiro (BRA).
In her international career, stretching back to 2010, Fox has won 10 World Championships medals, including seven golds: three in C-1, two in K-1 and two in C-2. She’s only one behind France’s Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, who won eight golds (and 10 total medals) from 1983-95. This is where it gets wild.
Fox-Jerusalmi is Jessica’s Fox mother, having married Richard Fox, a British canoeing star who won 10 World Championships golds from 1979-93. The couple settled in Australia, where Richard was the national coach for Canoe Slalom beginning in 1998 – when Jessica was four – and also served as a vice president of the International Canoe Federation.
So Jessica, now 24, is now in position to set the all-time record for World Championships gold medals in Canoe Slalom with two more and could tie her father for the family gold-medals record with three! And she could do it.
The top contenders from this year’s World Cup circuit and defending champions:
∙ Men’s C-1/2018 World Cup:
1. 296 Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK)
2. 282 Luka Bozic (SLO)
3. 268 Sideris Tasiadis (GER)
∙ Men’s C-1/2017 World Champs:
1. Benjamin Savsek (SLO)
2. Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK)
3. Michal Martikan (SVK)
∙ Men’s K-1/2018 World Cup:
1. 304 Jiri Prskavec (CZE)
2. 242 Mathieu Biazizzo (FRA)
3. 222 Vit Prindis (CZE)
∙ Men’s K-1/2017 World Champs:
1. Ondrej Tunka (CZE)
2. Vit Prindis (CZE)
3. Peter Kauzer (SLO)
∙ Women’s C-1/2018 World Cup:
1. 360 Jessica Fox (AUS)
2. 243 Mallory Franklin (GBR)
3. 242 Viktoria Wolffhardt (AUT)
∙ Women’s C-1/2017 World Champs:
1. Mallory Franklin (GBR)
2. Tereza Fiserova (CZE)
3. Ana Satila (BRA)
∙ Women’s K-1/2018 World Cup:
1. 303 Jessica Fox (AUS)
2. 302 Ricarda Funk (GER)
3. 285 Corinna Kuhnle (AUT)
∙ Women’s K-1/2017 World Champs:
1. Jessica Fox (AUS)
2. Jana Dukatova (CZE)
3. Ricarda Funk (GER)
∙ Mixed C-2/2018 World Cup:
1. 335 Teresa Fiserova/Jakub Jane (CZE)
2. 293 Yves Prigent/Margaux Henry (FRA)
3. 268 Veronika Vojtova/Jan Masek (CZE)
∙ Mixed C-2/2017 World Championships:
1. Margaux Henry/Yves Prigent (FRA)
2. Niccolo Ferrari/Stefanie Horn (ITA)
3. Veronika Vojtova/Jan Masek (CZE)
The competition finals schedule:
∙ 28 September: Mixed C-2
∙ 29 September: Men’s C-1 Final ~ Women’s K-1 Final
∙ 30 September: Women’s C-1 Final ~ Men’s K-1 Final ~ Extreme K-1 Finals
Team competitions with three per boat were held on the 25th:
∙ Men’s C-1:
1. Slovakia, 99.67; 2. Slovenia, 99.95; 3. Great Britain, 100.87.
(U.S. was eighth, 103.53.)
∙ Men’s K-1: 1. Great Britain, 92.45; 2. Poland, 93.88; 3. Czech Rep., 94.84.
(U.S. was 12th, 101.68.)
∙ Women’s C-1: 1. Great Britain, 115.78; 2. Czech Rep., 117.34; 3. France, 121.27.
∙ Women’s K-1: 1. France, 108.37 seconds; 2. Germany, 109.12; 3. Great Britain, 109.36.
Although Canoe Slalom didn’t make it into the Olympic Games until the 1990s, the World Championships date back to 1949, with Rio being the 39th edition. Look for results here.
