Leonay’s Jessica Fox picked up her first gold medal for the 2019 season on the last day of competition at the third ICF canoe slalom world cup in Tacen, Ljubljana, recently.

Once again there was frustration for the Australian men, with both Lucien Delfour and Daniel Watkins picking up 50-second penalties for missing gates, ruling them out of the K1 final.

But there was to be no denying Fox, despite two gate touches, which made the final margin in the women’s C1 much tighter.

After dominating the 2018 season, Australian multiple-world champion Jessica Fox has struggled to find her groove this year. On the final day, she made a return to the top of the podium, posting 103.06, including four seconds of penalties, to win the C1 gold.

24 hours earlier Fox had been left devastated after picking up a 50 second penalty which kept her out of the K1 final.

“It’s been a hard start to the year, and I was really upset and disappointed with my race in not making the final, so I really wanted to bounce back and show what I could do” Fox said.

“There were a couple of mistakes in that run, but overall I’m super happy and super proud.

“I train to do my best, and strive for excellence in every run, and when it doesn’t happen it’s disappointing. So, you do put pressure on yourself, but you have to learn. Everyone is vulnerable”.

The win wraps up the first half of the 2019 world cup series with the world’s greatest female slalom paddler adding C1 gold to her two bronze medals in both the women’s K1 and C1 at the first world cup in London, Great Britain mid-June (14-16 June 2019). At the second world cup in Bratislava, Slovakia, Fox finished sixth in the K1 and missed the C1 final.

This also sees Fox take over the lead on the overall C1 world cup standings after three races. On the K1 overall world cup standings, Fox is ranked fifth.