Penrith’s Jessica Fox shares limelight with sister Noemie Fox at ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup

It’s not often Olympic champion Jess Fox is bumped from the spotlight but that’s what her sister Noemie did on Monday in Europe.

It’s the newest race at the Paris Olympics in 2024 and a paddler with a famous name is our newest star in it.

Noemie Fox, younger sister of Olympic champion Jessica Fox, claimed silver at the ICF World Cup in Poland in the Extreme Slalom event.

Noemie, who works as a TransformationAnalyst for Accenture, is juggling work with her bid for the Paris Olympics.

“This year it’s stepped up a whole other level and the quarter finals are feeling like a final from the get go. So taking it step by step and we’ll see what happens (for the Paris Olympics)

“It was definitely a battle out there.”

Australian paddler Noemie Fox after winning her silver medal: Pic: ICF

Noemie, 25, finished just off the podium in fourth in the hectic race - between four athletes in plastic boats in the whitewater - in Prague a week ago and was delighted to get some “bling” in her second World Cup.

“Once you’re up there [on the start ramp] I think you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do … I think there is a little bit of strategy that comes into it, but sometimes it is who you’re paired with,” Fox said.

Sister Jessica won gold in the K1 on Sunday

The next ICF World Cup will be held from 24-26 June 2022 in Slovenia.

Australian paddler Noemie Fox on her way to winning a World Cup silver: Pic: ICF

FROM OLYMPIC BRONZE TO GOLD FOR JESS FOX

June 13: 2021 was a huge year for Jessica Fox with her Olympic gold and bronze medals at the Tokyo Games and multiple world cup successes

But it was a couple of results other athletes would have tried to forget which have proved crucial to her success on the world stage in 2022.

After missing the K1 final at the world canoe slalom titles in 2021 and then taking bronze in the same event in Tokyo, Fox had business to attend to at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup in Prague on Sunday.

And on her 28th birthday she did just that, winning the K1 final despite an early mishap on the course.

Jessica Fox with her Olympic gold after the C1 race.

“It was challenging with the world championships - and with the Olympics winning bronze - but I won the overall world cup title last year in the kayak, so I knew it was there. I just had to pull it out in those runs,” Fox said after her victory.

“To do that today was awesome. I felt really good and really happy with how I delivered after that early mistake.”

Fox, who has delayed birthday celebrations until after her C1 event concludes, said she was spent after the racing which precedes her assault on the C1 - the race she won gold in at the Tokyo Olympics.

Mariafe Artacho del Solar, Taliqua Clancy, Keegan Palmer, Jessica Fox, Peter Bol, Alexander Purnell, Spencer Turrin, Jack Hargreaves and Alexander Hill projected on the sails of the Sydney Opera House in tribute to their Olympic performances.

“I told myself to have a good start, be safe, and straight away I smash gate two,’’ she said.

“From there I just had to try and lift and push. 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.”

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 Tokyo 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.

Jessica Fox at the 2022 Canoe Slalom Australian Open at Penrith Whitewater Stadium.

“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.”

Fox beat German world champion Elena Lilik from Germany and France’s Camille Prigent for her gold.

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Originally published as Penrith’s Jessica Fox shares limelight with sister Noemie Fox at ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup