- Jessica Fox has won gold at the Olympic Games
- The Aussie legend picked up her first gold in the K1 slalom
- She delivered under huge pressure after a tricky semi-final
Jessica Fox has won Olympic Games gold in Paris.
The 30-year-old Australian flag bearer was chasing an unprecedented three gold medals at the Paris Games, with the slalom kayak her first event in the whitewater program.
And she absolutely blitzed her run in the early hours of Monday morning, soaring through the white water to set an outstanding time of 96.08 seconds and put herself in the gold medal position.
‘That is how you do it, strong of mind, strong of paddle, she’s given everyone something to chase … it was clean,’ commentator Dave Culbert said on Nine.
‘I’m so proud of Jess… that’s the best last up stream she’s ever done in an Olympic games,’ her father Richard Fox added.
Fox had to wait patiently on the sidelines as the rest of the field took to the course. Poland’s Klaudia Zwolińska surely had the Aussie’s heart in her mouth as she nailed her run, but she was just over a second slower than Fox to sit in silver.
The final competitor to challenge Fox was reigning champion Ricarda Funk, with the German making an incredible start to the first half of the course in Vaires-sur-Marne.
However, a 50-second penalty picked up for hitting a gate sealed Fox’s fate as a Paris gold medallist, with the strong German contingent in the crowd stunned by Funk’s failure.
While she’s the reigning Olympic champion in the C1, Fox had won three medals in the K1 in her three previous Games but her best result was a silver medal in London in 2012.
Attention will now turn to defending her C1 crown as well as chasing gold in the kayak cross which is a new addition to the Olympic line-up in Paris.
After setting the best time in Saturday’s heat runs, Fox was below her best in the semi-final on Sunday afternoon (local time) at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
She went through the course in 104.38 seconds, incurring a two second time penalty for clipping the 19th gate.
Reigning Olympic champion Funk rebounded after two lacklustre heat runs with the German clocking 99.31 seconds despite also copping a penalty.
Poland’s Zwolinska was third fastest in 99.84.
The semi-final result meant that Fox was fifth down the course in the final among a 12-strong field, with Funk last.