For an incredible seventh time in her career Australia’s Jessica Fox has swept the canoe slalom gold medals at an International Canoe Federation World Cup, adding a C1 gold on Saturday to the K1 gold she won in Prague 24 hours earlier.
Fellow Olympic champion Benjamin Savsek broke the hearts of the capacity Czech crowd on hand for the men’s C1 final, as six nations shared the Saturday medals on offer.
Tokyo gold medalist Fox was in such good form she could even afford a two-second penalty for a gate touch, and an unscripted crash into the wall at the bottom of the course, to still become the only athlete with a time under 110 seconds.
It’s the second time she has won the K1 and C1 double in Prague, and the seventh time in her career she’s achieved the feat. The first time was in Slovenia in 2013, where she will be paddling next week, and the last time was in La Seu in 2021.
“I held it together to the finish, there was a little bit of an issue on my last upstream gate when I crashed into the wall, so I was really pleased to hold it together and finish strongly,” Fox said.
“I was quite nervous, the course is really challenging, especially in C1, but I tried to take last week’s results and last week’s feelings into the result and I’m really pleased to have put that down.
“Each race you learn, you grow, you’re testing things. The big goal this year is the world championships, and qualifying the quota for Australia to go to Paris 2024. I haven’t got clear goals in terms of what I win, so I just want to show up and do my best each time.”
Monica Doria Vilarrubla won the silver for Andorra, with local hope Gabriela Satkova taking the bronze.
In the men’s competition, Benjamin Savsek put together a fault-free run to return the Slovenian to the top of the podium after he missed the medals in Augsburg one week ago. It was his first world cup gold in Prague since 2012, and his fifth overall gold and first since 2017.
“It was an incredible run, I enjoyed it a lot,” he said.
“There was big pressure at the start, but I’m really happy to have managed that from the start to the finish and to complete a run without any mistakes. It’s a great day.
“It was great pressure (having three Czechs in the final), especially having Jiri Prskavec starting after me, so I knew I would have to put on a good run to get a good result. I was really focussed after Augsburg.”
Savsek was the only paddler to go under the 100 second mark, finishing 3.61 seconds clear of Slovakia’s Matej Benus, with France’s Jules Bernardet holding on for the bronze, despite a gate touch.
Host nation Czech Republic had three paddlers in the final, but finished outside the medals.
The second ICF World Cup will finish on Sunday with medals in the men’s and women’s kayak cross.
RESULTS
WOMEN’S C1
- FOX Jessica (AUS) 13 (2 seconds in penalties)
- DORIA VILARRUBLA Monica (AND) 57 (0)
- SATKOVA Gavbriela (CZE) 02 (0)
MEN C1
- SAVSEK Benjamin (SLO) 65 (0)
- BENUS Matej (SVK) 101.26 (0)
- BERNARDET Jules (FRA) 102.90 (2)
Pics by Bence Vekassy
