Jessica Fox (Australia) defended her Olympic title in the women’s fast-water single-person canoe race. Earlier this week, she also won the gold medal in the single sculls, becoming the first athlete to win Olympic titles in both types of boats at the same Olympics.
Jessica Fox, the Tokyo 2020 champion in the same event, covered the course in 99.06 sec, with a 2 second penalty for touching gate #19.
However, this did not prevent her from finishing in first place with a time of 101.06 sec.
Gabriela Satkova (Czech Republic) was fastest in qualifying and then finished with a time of 105.55 sec, which allowed her to start last in the actual race. However, Gabriela Satkova rowed quite poorly in the final descent and ended up in 7th place with 114.22 sec with 2 penalty seconds added to the score.
Elena Lilik (Germany) earned the silver in the race with a time of 103.54 sec, just to consolidate the progress she has demonstrated since 2023.
The third place and the bronze medal went to the young American Evy Leibfarth, who remained with a time of 109.95 sec and a lag of 8.89 sec.
In the end, it turned out that none of the canoeists managed to get close to the winner, except Elena Lilik.
“Oh my God. She went under 100″, said her father Richard, who was commentating the race for Australia’s Channel 9.
There was one slightly nervous moment in the entire competition when the judges had to review the descent of Gabriela Satkova, who was in turn after Jessica Fox. But the Czech woman’s finish was very problematic and so she dropped out of the medal fight.
Women’s Canoe Slalom C-1:
1. Jessica Fox (Australia) – 101.06 sec
2. Elena Lilik (Germany) – 103.54 sec
3. Evy Leibfarth (USA) – 109.95 sec
4. Zuzana Pankova (Slovakia) – 111.07 sec
5. Ana Satila (Brazil) – 112.70 sec
6. Monica Doria (Andorra) – 113.58 sec
7. Gabriela Satkova (Czech Republic) – 114.22 sec
8. Alena Marx (Switzerland) – 114.61 sec
9. Eva Alina Hocevar (Slovenia) – 115.48 sec
10. Miren Lazkano (Spain) – 116.97 sec
