Australia’s women kayak team have made a perfect start to the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships winning gold in the team event in London.
In challenging conditions, sisters Jessica and Noemie Fox (NSW) and Tasmanian Kate Eckhardt were one of just two K1 teams to not pick up any penalties at the Lee Valley White Water Centre.
The team secured the gold medal in a blistering time of 108.62. Spain, with a single gate touch, took second, while Great Britain had the fastest raw time on the course, but two gate touches saw the home nation relegated to third.
Noemie said to win the kayak team event four years after winning the canoe event was very special.
“Back in 2019 we won the C1 and four years later to win the kayak, and to be the first Australian team to win the kayak, is so special,” she said.
“We all work together, push each other, learn from each other, and inspire each other. To be rewarded together like this is really special and to have an opportunity to compete and beat some of the bigger nations is why we love this event.”
The same Australian trio had also contested the women’s C1 team event, where a 50-second penalty due to a missed gate put them in 11th and last.
Noemie, who missed the gate in the C1 event, said they had to change things around after that disappointing run.
“We swapped the order after the C1… and the girls especially helped me see the opportunity that we had another run, to clean the page, start again and create a new story and I think that’s what we did and we did it really well,” she said.
It was a welcome return for Jessica Fox to the course in which she won Olympic silver in the K1 as an 18-year-old at London 2012.
The Olympic champion said it was a nice change to compete with her fellow Australians rather than against them.
“We really enjoy racing teams and we only get to do it at the World Championships,” Jessica said.
“We’ve been on many teams together, and I remember seeing Kate and Noemie starting the sport and growing up together and going through the Junior ranks and Under 23s, so now to stand on the top of the podium together as K1 Team Women’s World Champions is just incredible and I am so proud of them and to share this together.
“We’re also super grateful to Myriam Fox, Mum, who has also been our coach since we all started. We’ve had a great lead into the Worlds and it’s just a great way to start the World Champs.
“We’ll cherish this moment, we’ll soak it up and then we’ll refocus for the individual heats tomorrow for canoe, and heats on Thursday for kayak, before it goes into the final stages, so it will be a big week.”
The Canoe Slalom World Championships, which also serve as qualifiers for the Paris Olympics, continue on Wednesday with heats in the men’s and women’s C1.
Britain, France and the Czech Republic also picked up gold medals in the team events, which features three competitors from each country racing down the slalom course together.
The Czech Republic won the men’s K1 while the canoe events were won by France (men) and GB (women).
Australia’s men’s canoe team of Tristan Carter, Brodie Crawford and Kaylen Bassett finished 10th, while the kayak team of Lucien Delfour, Ben Pope and Tim Anderson came ninth.
