Jessica Fox celebrated a birthday gold medal and Peter Kauzer his first world cup title in four years on an exciting day of racing in front of a capacity crowd at the ICF canoe slalom world cup in Prague on Saturday.
Both Fox and Kauzer expressed surprise that their runs were good enough to win gold, but a slight change in water level between the semi-finals and finals made navigating the slalom gates extra challenging.
Fox, who turned 28 on Saturday, said it was nice to return to the top of the K1 podium after winning bronze at last year’s Olympics, and missing the final at the 2021 world championships.
“It was challenging with the world championships, and with the Olympics winning bronze, but I won the overall world cup title in the kayak, so I knew it was there, I just had to pull it out in those runs,” Fox said.
“To do that today was awesome, I felt really good and really happy with how I delivered after that early mistake.
“I told myself to have a good start, be safe, and straight away I smash gate two. From there I just had to try and lift and push, and I made a little mistake in the middle, but I had an excellent bottom and I really gave it everything at the finish line. And I’m still stuffed.”
Reigning world champion Elena Lilik from Germany took the silver, with France’s Camille Prigent, one of only two athletes in the women’s final not to register a penalty, finished third.
Reigning Olympic gold medalist, Ricarda Funk, had four gate touches and eight seconds in penalties and eventually finished in seventh position.
Slovenia’s Peter Kauzer thought he had blown his chances of making Saturday’s K1 final after making a big mistake in the semi-finals, but managed to sneak into the top ten in the final position.
The 38-year-old, who pushed back his retirement until after the Paris Olympics after Tokyo was delayed by one year, then delivered a penalty-free run that couldn’t be bettered by the remaining nine competitors.
“I’m really happy to be back on top of the podium here in Prague, the last time I did that here was in the Europeans, also back in 2018, so I’m pretty happy that I managed to win,” Kauzer said.
“The water was a little bit higher in the final, so to manage the run without a penalty was quite a challenge, but I managed to do it.
“I said if I was healthy and managed to do good results, I would keep on going, so this kind of run, a clean run, is what I’m searching for. Good enough to be on the podium, so while I can keep doing this, I will keep on going.”
Italy’s Giovanni De Gennaro posted the quickest run on the Prague course, but a two-second penalty pushed him to second, while Switzerland’s Martin Dugoud took the bronze.
Olympic champion Jiri Prskavec had huge hometown crowd support pushing him all the way to the finish, but had to settle for fourth after picking up a penalty. Great Britain’s 2016 Olympic champion, Joe Clarke, missed a gate in the semi-final and did not progress to the medal race.
RESULTS
WOMEN’S K1
- FOX Jessica (AUS) 103.91 (2 seconds in penalties)
- LILIK Elena (GER) 104.80 (2)
- PRIGENT Camille (FRA) 105.33 (0)
MEN’S K1
- KAUZER Peter (SLO) 95.54 (0)
- DE GENNARO Giovanni (ITA) 96.49 (2)
- DOUGOUD Martin (SUI) 97.28 (0)
Pics by Dezso Vekassy
