Olympic gold medalist Jessica Fox will look to extend her incredible record at the Tacen Whitewater Course in Slovenia this weekend when it hosts the third International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom World Cup for 2023.
Fox has won at least one gold medal every time she has competed at the Ljubljana venue since 2013. That season she won both the K1 and C1 gold medals for the first time at a single event. Last weekend in Prague the Australian won the golden double for the seventh time in her career.
Fox has attended every world cup in Tacen since the golden double in 2013, with the exception of the Covid years. In that stretch the Tokyo C1 gold medalist has won K1 gold three times, and C1 gold on four occasions.
Striking fear into her opponents is her form this season, with already three gold medals from five events contested.
Her biggest challenger in the K1 will be German Olympic gold medalist, Ricarda Funk, who has never won a world cup medal in Tacen. In C1 former world champion Elena Lilik, also from Germany, will be looking to improve on the bronze medal she won in Ljubljana last season.
Czech Jiri Prskavec won K1 gold in Tacen last year, his first gold at the challenging venue, and comes to Slovenia in winning form after taking gold in Prague last weekend. He has also made two consecutive C1 finals.
Hometown hero Peter Kauzer has won K1 world cup gold four times already, and always produces his best in front of a vociferous local crowd. He has three silver medals to go with his quadrella of gold, but has not won on the course since 2016 and will be keen to make amends after missing a medal last year.
Slovenian teammate and Olympic C1 gold medalist Benjamin Savsek also last won on the Tacen course in 2016, but showed he is at his very best form after a breathtaking win in Prague last weekend. His other gold in Slovenia came in 2014.
Another Slovenian, Luka Bozic, broke through for his first C1 gold in Tacen in 2020, and he won silver behind Slovakia's Alexander Slafkovsky last year. He has two silver and two bronze medals on his home course.
The second ICF Canoe Slalom and Kayak Cross World Cup kicks off on Thursday afternoon and will run through until Sunday.
