Having worked so hard to get C1 added to the Olympic canoe slalom program, Australia’s Jessica Fox has more skin in the game than most ahead of next week’s 2017 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Pau, France.

And remarkably, for someone so dominant in the sport for so many years, the Australian has never won a gold medal in Pau. Not in C1, not in K1.

As one of the public faces of the C1 Olympics campaign Fox ruffled more than a few feathers, which made life difficult at times in what has always been a very tight-knit paddling community.

But Fox would argue that successful campaign has not made her life any easier on the water either. Even one year ago the 23-year-old would have been considered as close to an Olympic gold medal certainty as you could possibly get.

But that is very much not the case any more. While the three-time C1 World Champion will start favourite next week, there’s not as much wriggle room for the French-born star any more.

“I’ve done a lot of races, I’ve been away for five months and now we’re getting to the tricky end of the season,” Fox said.

“It’s what we are training for, and it’s what is going to count. Every race I’ve raced is going towards the World Championships.

“I try and learn a little bit from that, and I’m happy with my form.”

When the C1 is contested next week for the first time at a World Championships as an Olympic event 54 athletes from 26 nations will be competing. It’s a far cry from not so long ago when it really was almost exclusively the domain of the Australians, the Brits, the Spanish and one or two others.

The Brits and Spaniards are still very strong, but now there are Austrians, Brazilians and Czechs all stepping up to the plate.

Earlier this month Fox was upstaged by Spain’s Nuria Villarubla in the World Cup final at La Seu in Spain.

“As always, to fight against Jess is a great fight,” Villarubla said at the time.

“I’m ready now for the World Championships. I’m feeling confident, strong and I’m happy.”

For Fox, though, there is an added incentive to perform well next week. The last time she raced at Pau, at a World Cup last year, she was penalised 50 seconds for missing a gate in the final of the K1, which saw her dumped from the gold medal position to last.

24 hours earlier she was beaten by Great Britain’s Mallory Franklin in the C1 final. It meant that for another year, victory at Pau for Jessica Fox remained elusive.

This year she feels she’s ready to finally break through. She didn’t spend a lot of time racing her beloved C1 last year so she could focus on the Olympic K1 event, so this year has been like a new beginning.

“To be back in the C1 boat, every race was awesome,” Fox said earlier this month.

“I was consistently up there in the fastest times, so that’s only a confidence boost in the lead-up to the Worlds.

“It’s great to know I’ve done the work, I’ve had good races. It all comes down to one race now.”

The heats of the women’s C1 will start on Wednesday, with the final to be contested on Friday afternoon.