Paddler Jessica Fox defends World Cup series crown
When push came to shove Penrith paddler Jessica Fox was able to shoulder all her rivals out of the way in the K1 at the World Cup in Prague.
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It was not perfect but Jess Fox’s World Cup season was still so good she has ended it with two gold medals around her neck.
Fox on Monday morning added the C1 World Cup title to the K1 crown she won a day earlier on a technical course in Prague.
While it was a close one — just 0.04 seconds separated her from second place — it delivered her a third consecutive overall C1 world cup title.
“It wasn’t perfect and it was a fight to the finish.,” Fox admitted.
“My goal is always to put down my best runs, not win the overall world cup, that’s a bonus of doing consistent races.
“It wasn’t the perfect season like last year, but I’ve learned so much from every race that I’ve done.
“The competition in the C1 category is getting better and better, the girls are hungry and improving a lot, it makes me really proud to be in this category.”
On Saturday Fox swept down the technical K1 course in the Czech Republic four seconds faster than her semi-final run to win both the event and successfully defend her K1 overall series crown after five events.
It is a massive boost for Fox ahead of the Canoe Slalom world championships and Tokyo 2020 qualification in La Seu d’Urgell, Spain, from September 25.
“Just to deliver that in the final, I was so pleased,” the Penrith star said.
“That was the elation when I crossed the finish line.
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“I’m really pleased, it could not have gone better.”
Fox said she had a suspicion she would do well on the course.
“I’ve been training so well here, so I really wanted to put it together. It was just about getting that run out,” she said.
“It’s always a little confidence boost.
“It’s been a long season, but now all the world cups are done, we have a couple of weeks off, so I’m happy to finish the world cups on this note and look forward to being back in Seu.”