Australia’s Jessica Fox stormed to Olympic gold in the women’s kayak slalom, recovering from a poor semifinal performance to smash the field at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on Sunday.
Poland’s Klaudia Zwolinska picked up the silver medal, with Britain’s Kimberley Woods hanging on for the bronze after a thrilling finish that saw German reigning champion Ricarda Funk disastrously miss a gate on the final run of the day.
“It means everything to me right now. I think it’s been years and years of chasing this dream of getting really close of persevering and picking myself back up,” an elated Fox told reporters.
“I think it was just the perfect day for me. It didn’t start well, but it finished really well and it was just magical,” she added.
Fox finally won an Olympic gold medal for the family on its sixth try. She placed second in 2012 and third in 2016 and 2021 in the whitewater event. Her mother, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, was a bronze medalist for France in 1996 after not placing in 1992.
“It’s very special with this French connection.” said Fox, who was born in Marseille, France. “And to feel the energy from the crowd, the atmosphere and just the whole Olympic Games here in Paris — the energy has been electric. I’ve been chasing this for few years. And my mom before me was chasing this gold medal in ’92 and ’96. So to achieve it in Paris is just very special for our family.”
Fox came first in Saturday’s heat but struggled in the semifinal, picking up two two-second penalties to see her through as the eighth of 12 finalists, but it was to be the only blip on her golden day.
Her face a mask of concentration at the start, the 30-year-old burst onto the course, aggressively attacking the early gates with a precision and power that had been noticeably lacking in her semifinal run. The reigning world champion thundered through the second part of the course to take a commanding lead with a time of 96.08 seconds, cranking up the pressure on the rest of the field.
Woods laid down an ambitious run to put herself into the medal conversation, but she was bumped out of second place by Zwolinska in the second-to-last run before Funk made her descent.
Knowing the mark she had to beat, Funk set off at a searing pace and matched Fox’s early spilt times, but a missed gate further down the course derailed her challenge.
The 50-second penalty incurred by that miss destroyed any hope the German had of making the podium, and Fox unleashed a burst of joy as she secured the second Olympic gold of her career following her C1 win in Tokyo.
“It was really tough watching Ricarda. I think she was on a good run up until Gate 19 and I felt heartbroken for her, but at the same time, it meant that, for me, it was the good result,” Fox said. “It was what I was striving for, and the goal was ticked and the dream achieved.”
American Evy Leibfarth, who finished fourth out of 25 competitors in heats Saturday, finished 15th on Sunday and missed the final. She struggled at times and got a two-second penalty during the race. But even without the penalty, she would have just missed the top-12 finish required to compete for gold. She finished 12th in the event in Tokyo at age 17.
Leibfarth will also compete in canoe slalom and kayak cross, as will Fox.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.