Fox grabs second gold with powerful final run
PARIS — Australia’s Jessica Fox pulled off another sensational descent at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium to win her second gold of the Paris Games on Wednesday, adding the women’s canoe single title to the kayak single gold she secured Sunday.
Germany’s Elena Lilik took the silver, and American Evy Leibfarth bagged an unexpected bronze.
But once again Fox stole the show with an incredible winning run of 1 minute, 1.06 seconds.
“I don’t know how I did that. The atmosphere was incredible. I looked out, and I saw so much green and yellow, so many Aussie flags, and I think that was the best run I’ve ever done,” Fox said. “I knew once I had got through the hard moves, it was about trying to get to the finish and holding it together and wow!”
Leibfarth went out first in the final, setting the pace with a run of 1:09.95 that looked like it wouldn’t top the standings for long, but the next four racers came and went and none of them could knock her off her perch.
She was finally bumped down to second when Lilik went out sixth, putting in a flawless high-octane run that saw her slide into first place with a lead of more than six seconds, the 25-year-old shrieking with joy when she saw her final time.
With the tricky course forcing costly errors from some of the world’s top paddlers, Lilik’s time looked better and better as the final went on.
Second to last to go, Fox flew down the course, attacking every downstream gate with gusto and teeing herself up for the upstream gates with tremendous precision. She took only a two-second penalty for brushing the 19th gate.
Last out was Gabriela Satkova of the Czech Republic. Despite impressing in the heats and semis, she came unstuck early, allowing Fox to start celebrating another Olympic gold before her final rival had even crossed the finish line.
“This has been a dream Games,” Fox said. “As an athlete, you put in the blood, sweat and tears, and the team invests in you. For it to come down to one day every four years, and then to actually pull it off, is the best feeling in the world.
“It does not always go your way, and I have experienced that as well. For it to turn out this way, it has been the perfect Games, and it’s so magical to be here in Paris.”
