Fox has won 22 medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with 14 golds (C1: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018; K1: 2014, 2017, 2018, 2023; C1 team: 2013, 2015, 2019; K1 team: 2023; Kayak cross: 2021, 2022), five silvers (C1: 2019, 2022; K1: 2019, 2022; C1 team: 2017) and three bronzes (C1: 2010, 2023; K1 team: 2017). Her ten gold medals in individual events make her the most successful paddler, male or female, in World Championship history.
Fox has won the overall World Cup title seven times in the C1 class (2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024) and five times in the K1 class (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023). She has finished the year as the World No. 1 in C1 12 times, including an uninterrupted streak from 2013 to 2023, and World No. 1 in K1 eight times.[5]
Fox, a ten-time individual world champion, twelve-time World Cup champion and three-time individual Olympic champion, is considered the greatest individual paddler of all time.[6]
Fox attended Leonay Public School and then Blaxland High School, where she completed her HSC year in 2011 by ranking first in New South Wales for PDHPE, and achieved an ATAR score of 99.1. She studied in the Elite Athlete Program at the University of Sydney,[22] where she is working on a degree in media/communications. She is studying for a Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) at Swinburne Online. She is bilingual in English and French.[9][10]
Fox suffered a back injury that impacted her performance in 2012.[18][19]
In September 2009, Fox made her Australian senior national team bid.[10] She competed at the 2009 ICF World Ranking in Merano, Italy, finishing third in the K1 event.[10] At the 2009 AYOF event in Penrith, New South Wales, she finished first in the women's K1 event.[10]
Fox placed 5th in the K1 event and won a bronze medal in the C1 event at the 2010 World Championships in Tacen.[23] At the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore, she won the gold in the girls' K1 slalom event.[9][18] At the 2010 Junior World Championships in Foix, she won gold in K1, and won the inaugural C1 event at that level. She won her first World Cup by taking out the C1 event at the third round in La Seu d'Urgell. Domestically, Fox won the C1 event and placed 9th in the K1 event at the Oceania Continental Championships in Penrith (counting to World Cup points), and placed 1st and 3rd at the National Championships in Eildon, Victoria, in the C1 and K1 events, respectively.[10]
In 2011, Fox won gold medals in the C1 event at World Cups 2 and 3.[10] At the 2011 World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia, she finished 19th, which gave Australia an automatic spot in the event at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[10] She won silver medals at Australian Open and the Oceania Championships in the women's K1 event in 2011.[10]
In 2012, Fox was selected to represent Australia for the first time at the Olympics in the women's K-1 event, where she won the silver medal at the age of 18.[10] Her pre-Olympic schedule included training on the Olympic course in London in April,[18][24] and World Cup competitions in Wales, France and Spain, plus the Junior World Championship in the United States.[18] Her result has been described as competitive revenge against the 44-year-old Czech paddler Štěpánka Hilgertová, who had beaten Fox's mother Myriam to the K-1 gold medal sixteen years earlier in the 1996 Summer Olympics. Her silver medal improved on her mother's bronze from Atlanta 1996 and her father's fourth place in Barcelona 1992, and earned her the nickname "the Silver Fox" from teammates and the press.[24]
2013–2016: Ascendancy to the top
Fox won her first World Championship titles in the C1 event and the C1 team event at the 2013 World Championships in Prague.
At the 2014 World Championships at Deep Creek Lake, in the United States, Fox became the first athlete to win the C1 and K1 events at the same World Championships, besting Jana Dukátová, who became the first to do it at separate events winning a world championship title in K1 in 2006 and C1 in 2010.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Fox won her second Olympic medal, with a bronze in the K-1 event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After winning multiple World Cup races, she won the overall World Cup title in the Kayak Single Slalom (K1) and was second overall in Canoe Single Slalom (C1). She also won the U23 World Championships in K1 and C1 in Kraków, Poland. Additionally, she also won the Oceania Championships Slalom C1 in Penrith, Australia.[25]
2017–2020: Record breaking dominance
In 2017, Fox won the K1 event at the 2017 World Championships. Fox won the C1 and finished second in the K1 for the 2017 World Cup, and was awarded the Canoeist of the Year award, and the NSW Athlete of the Year award.[25][26]
In 2018, Fox was a double ICF Canoe World Champion in both the C1 and K1 at the 2018 World Championships, and again won a number of World Cups in both disciplines, finishing first in both the C1 and K1 2018 World Cup standings. Her 2018 season featured an undefeated run in C1, sweeping all five World Cups and the World Championships, including three consecutive 'Golden Doubles' at the first three World Cups.[27] In 2019, Fox repeated her World Cup dominance, again finishing first in both the K1 and C1 World Cup standings. Fox won the Oceania Championships in Canoe Slalom again, and won silver in both K1 and C1 events at the 2019 World Championships .[25]
2021–2023: Olympic heartbreak to glory
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fox finished third to win the bronze medal in the Women's K-1.[28] Fox's final run included a penalty time of 4 seconds, ultimately putting her final time 1.23 seconds behind the winner Ricarda Funk. During the event, Fox also gained media attention for using a condom to repair her kayak.[29] Fox was also the fastest qualifier for the final of the inaugural Women's Canoe Slalom C-1 event at the Olympics, where she went on to win her first Olympic gold medal, beating silver medalist Mallory Franklin of Great Britain by more than three seconds with a penalty-free run.[30]
At the 2021 World Championships in Bratislava, Fox did not progress to the final of either the K1 or C1 for the first time in her entire career, after incurring 50-second penalties in the semi-finals of both. On the final day of competition she became World Champion in the kayak cross, an 8th individual world title in a 3rd unique event, in just her third international appearance in the event.[31]
2024: Paris Olympics
Fox was selected as the opening ceremony flag bearer to represent Australia at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.[32] In her fourth Olympic Games, Fox was able to claim her first Olympic gold medal for the K-1 event, having previously won silver and bronze medals in her last three Olympics. Fox also managed to defend her C-1 title. In doing so, Fox became the first paddler, male or female, to win and hold both K-1 and C-1 Olympic titles, and also became the most decorated athlete in canoe slalom at the Olympics. In the inaugural kayak cross event at the Olympics, Fox was eliminated in the heats in a race that featured her sister, Noemie Fox, who went on to win the gold medal.
Awards and honours
Fox was the 2010 Penrith Press Junior Sports Star of the year and NewsLocal Medal winner.[18]
She has also served as the ambassador for the Premier's Sporting Challenge.[18]
In 2010, she was also named the Cumberland Courier Junior Sport Star, NSWIS Junior Athlete of the Year and the Pierre de Coubertin AOC award.[10]
In 2009, 2010 and 2011, she was named the Junior Canoeist of the Year Australian Canoeing.[10]
In 2011, she was named the Australian Canoeing Athlete of the Year.[10]
She earned the AIS Secondary Education award in 2011.[10]
Richard Munro Fox is a British slalom canoeist who competed for Great Britain from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. He won eleven medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with ten golds and a bronze. Fox also won the overall World Cup title three times and the Euro Cup four times.
Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi is a former French slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1979 to 1996.
Shu Junrong is a former Chinese male slalom canoeist specializing in the C2 event with Hu Minghai. The pair competed together from 2003, when they were first paired until the 2013 National Games.
Fabien Lefèvre is a French slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 1998. As a permanent resident of the United States, he has competed for his country of residence since 2013. He represented France until 2011. He won two medals at the Summer Olympics in the K1 event with a silver in 2008 and a bronze in 2004. He has a son called Noe Lefèvre.
The ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships are an international event in canoeing organized by the International Canoe Federation. The World Championships have taken place every year in non-Summer Olympic years since 2002. From 1949 to 1999, they had taken place in odd-numbered years. The 2001 championships were scheduled to take place in Ducktown, Tennessee from 20 to 23 September, but were canceled in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
Richard John Hounslow is a British slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1999 until his retirement in 2016. He started out as a specialist in the kayak (K1) category, but in 2009 he also started competing in canoe doubles (C2) alongside David Florence. In his last season (2016) he concentrated on the C2 class exclusively.
Luuka Jones is a New Zealand slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2006.
Dana Mann is a Slovak-born American slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 2000 to 2015, specializing in the K1 discipline. She represented the United States from 2013 to 2015.
Ana Sátila Vieira Vargas is a Brazilian slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2011.
Annebel van der Knijff is a Spanish slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2012 in both C1 and K1. She has also competed in mixed C2.
Rosalyn "Ros" Lawrence is an Australian slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2006. She also competes in wildwater and creeking events.
Mallory Franklin is a British slalom canoeist who has competed internationally since 2009. She competes in both Kayak and Canadian Canoe classes, as well as the Kayak cross discipline.
Ricarda Funk is a German slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2008, specializing in the K1 discipline and since 2021 also in kayak cross.
Kimberley Woods is a British slalom canoeist who has competed in C1, K1 and KX1 at the international level since 2011. A six time world and eight time European champion, she won the bronze medal in both the K1 event and the first ever women's kayak-cross (KX1) event in Paris at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Noémie Fox is a French-born Australian slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2013, winning two world championships. Fox won the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the women's slalom kayak cross, becoming the first-ever Olympic champion in that event.
Evy Leibfarth is an American slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2019.
Roberto Colazingari is an Italian slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2008. He is from Subiaco and trains with C.S. Carabinieri, coached by 2012 Olympic Champion Daniele Molmenti. Roberto competed internationally in the C2 discipline in 2011 and 2012, now competing solely in C1.
Angèle Hug is a French slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2017. She competes in the C1 and K1 events, having competed in C2 Mixed with Théo Roisin in 2017. She is from Les Ollières-sur-Eyrieux in the Ardèche department of France.
The women's K-1 slalom canoeing event at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place on 27 and 28 July 2024 at the National Olympic Nautical Stadium of Île-de-France in Vaires-sur-Marne. Jessica Fox won the event. She already has several Olympic medals in kayak slalom (K1) – a silver and two bronze – and a gold medal in canoe slalom (C1) from the Tokyo 2020 games. Klaudia Zwolińska won silver and Kimberley Woods bronze, for both of them it was the first Olympic medal.
Timothy Anderson is an Australian slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2010, including in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Anderson competes in the K1 and Kayak Cross events. He is from Melbourne, Victoria but lives and trains in Penrith, NSW, and is coached by 2006 World Champion Julien Billaut.
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