Jessica Esther "Jess" FoxOAM (born 11 June 1994) is a French-born Australian Program and Policy Officer and world and Olympic champion slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2008.[3]
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 8 gold medals in individual events make her the most successful paddler, male or female, in World Championship history. She also won a gold medal at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in the K1 event.
Fox, an 8-time world champion and Olympic champion, is considered the greatest individual paddler of all time.[5]
Fox attended Blaxland High School, and finished her HSC year by being first in New South Wales in the PDHPE in 2011 and had an ATAR score of 99.1. She studied in the Elite Athlete Program at The University of Sydney[19] where she is working on a degree in media/communications. She is studying a Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) at Swinburne Online. She is bilingual in English and French.[7][8]
Fox suffered a back injury that impacted her performance in 2012.[10] In May 2012, she spoke at the Chullora Public School.[9] She celebrated her 18th birthday on 11 June 2012 in Cardiff while competing at a World Cup event.[6] Fox is also an avid dog lover, regularly posting "dog selfies" to her social media platforms.
In September 2009, Fox made her Australian senior national team bid.[8] She competed at the ICF World Ranking in Merano, Italy in 2009 where she finished third in the K1 event.[8] At the 2009 AYOF event in Penrith, New South Wales, she finished first in the women's K1 event.[8]
Fox won placed 5th in the K1 event and won a bronze medal in the C1 event at the 2010 World Championships in Tacen.[20] At the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore, she won the gold in the girls' K1 slalom event.[7][9] At the 2010 Junior World Championships in Foix, Jessica won gold in K1, also winning 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.[8]
In 2011, Fox won gold medals in the C1 event at World Cups 2 and 3.[8] 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.[8] She won silver medals at Australian Open and the Oceania Championships in the women's K1 event in 2011.[8]
In 2012 Fox was selected to represent Australia for the first time at the Olympics in the women's K1 event, where she won the silver medal at the age of 18.[8] Her pre-Olympic schedule included training on the Olympic course in London in April,[9][21] and World Cup competitions in Wales, France and Spain, plus the Junior World Championship in the United States.[9] 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 K1 gold medal sixteen years earlier in the Atlanta 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.[21]
She 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, USA, 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.
In 2016, Fox won her second Olympic medal, with a bronze in the K1 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.[22]
In 2017, Fox won the K1 event at the 2017 World Championships, a number of World Cup medals, the Canoeist of the Year award, and the NSW Athlete of the Year award.[23][22] In 2018, Fox was a double ICF Canoe World Champion in C1 and K1, and again won a number of World Cups in both disciplines. Her 2018 season featured an undefeated run in C1 (winning all five World Cups and the World Championships), and three consecutive 'Golden Doubles' at the first three World Cups.[24] In 2019, she won the Oceania Championships in Canoe Slalom again, as well as the World Cup Overall in both events.[22]
She finished third to win the bronze medal in the women's canoe slalom K1 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,[25] where she also gained media attention for using a condom to repair her kayak.[26] In Tokyo Jess was also the fastest qualifier for the final of the inaugural C1 canoe slalom event, and went on to win the gold medal, beating silver medalist Mallory Franklin of Great Britain by more than three seconds with a penalty-free run.[27]
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 which will make its Olympic debut at Paris 2024.[28]
Fox has won the overall World Cup title six times in the C1 class (2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023) and five times in the K1 class (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023). She has finished the year as the World No. 1 in C1 10 times, including an uninterrupted streak from 2013 to 2021, and World No. 1 in K1 6 times. In 2021, Fox was the highest ranked athlete in both events.[29]
Fox was the 2010 Penrith Press Junior Sports Star of the year and NewsLocal Medal winner.[9] She has also served as the ambassador for the Premier's Sporting Challenge.[9] 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.[8] In 2009, 2010 and 2011, she was named the Junior Canoeist of the Year Australian Canoeing.[8] In 2011, she was named the Australian Canoeing Athlete of the Year.[8] She earned the AIS Secondary Education award in 2011.[8] She was awarded AIS Sport Performance Awards – Athlete of the Year for 2014.[30] In 2018, she won AIS Sport Performance Award Female Athlete of the Year.
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 French slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1979 to 1996.
Elena Kaliská is a retired Slovak slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1988 to 2019. She specialized in the K1 event, which was the only discipline available for women during the vast majority of her career.
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.
Jana Dukátová is a former Slovak slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1999 to 2021. She specialized in the K1 event for most of her career, although she was also one of the pioneers of the women's C1 discipline, becoming the first ever world champion. She stopped competing in C1 after 2010.
Fiona Pennie is a British slalom canoeist who has competed internationally since 1997. She lives in Waltham Abbey in Essex.
Elizabeth Rachael "Lizzie" Neave is a British slalom canoeist in women's kayak (K1W). She started competing in 1996 and first gained selection to represent Great Britain at junior level in 2002.
Luuka Jones is a New Zealand slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2006.
Ana Sátila Vieira Vargas is a Brazilian slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2011.
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.
Kimberley Woods is a British slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2011.
Camille Prigent is a French slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2013.
Mònica Dòria Vilarrubla is an Andorran slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2014. Mònica was the flagbearer for Andorra at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She finished 16th in the K1 event and 11th in the C1 event after being eliminated in the semifinals of both.
Elena Lilik is a German slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2014. She is from Weimar, Germany but resides in Augsburg, home of the Augsburg Eiskanal.
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.
The Women's C1 at the 2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships took place on 23 and 26 September 2021 at the Čunovo Water Sports Centre in Bratislava. It was the 9th official edition of the event, after it made its debut in 2010. 44 athletes from 22 nations competed.
The Women's K1 at the 2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships took place on 23 and 25 September 2021 at the Čunovo Water Sports Centre in Bratislava. It was the 41st edition of the event, and 58 athletes from 29 nations competed.
The women's extreme slalom at the 2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships took place on 24 and 26 September 2021 at the Čunovo Water Sports Centre in Bratislava. It was the 4th edition of the event, after it made its debut in 2017 in Pau. 55 athletes from 24 nations competed.
Timothy Anderson is an Australian slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2010. 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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