Australia’s Jessica Fox and Great Britain’s Joe Clarke successfully defended their ICF gold medals in brutal extreme slalom finals on the final afternoon of the world championships in Augsburg on Sunday.
The two Olympic gold medalists have now firmed as favourites for medals when extreme slalom makes its Games debut in Paris in 2024.
Fox, the Olympic C1 champion, added to her weekend kayak and canoe silver medals with a hard fought win in the women’s final, despite receiving a fierce blow to the ribs from a rival canoe. She said she was pleased with her performance over the weekend.
“Its incredible to be racing here, I can’t quite believe I managed to pull that off in extreme, you just have to keep taking it round by round,” Fox said.
“It took me back to Prague, I have some bad memories of taking a boat to the head, so luckily it wasn’t my head.
“For the kayak and the canoe, it was always going to be pretty tough to beat the Germans on their home course, and I wanted to give it the best shot I could. I’m really pleased with the way I raced, I’ve enjoyed every second I’ve been out here on the water.”
Great Britain’s Kimberley Woods took the silver, and Andorra’s Monica Doria Vilarrubla the bronze.
Joe Clarke, the 2016 K1 Olympic champion, had a point to prove after missing Saturday’s kayak final and was taking no chances in the men’s extreme final.
He led from start to finish to beat France’s Anatole Delassus, with former world champion, Germany’s Stefan Hengst, third.
“I’m not doing quite as well as I might have hoped in the slalom, I have to rely then on the extreme to try and do the best I could,” Clarke said.
“Reigning world champion, there was a lot of pressure coming into it. So many emotions into one, a couple of bruises along the way, but fantastic.
“Obviously it’s getting fiercer and fiercer, you can see the difference from last year’s world championships to this year’s.”
RESULTS
WOMEN’S EXTREME
FOX Jessica (AUS)
WOODS Kimberley (GBR)
DORIA VILARRUBLA Monica (AND)
MEN’S EXTREME
CLARKE Joseph (GBR)
DELASSUS Anatole (FRA)
HENGST Stefan (GER)