Jess Fox Faces a Setback but Shines in Olympic K1 Qualifiers

Jess Fox had a bit of a rough moment in her Olympic canoe slalom debut, but she’s still off to a good start.

During her first qualifying run in the women’s K1 heats, Jess was on fire, leading the competition by over two seconds halfway through her run. But then came the stumble.

She overshot the 17th gate on the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium course and had to paddle back upstream for three agonizing seconds to avoid a penalty. Ouch!

Despite that hiccup, Jess finished her first run in a solid second place, just half a second behind Camille Prignet from France, who clocked the best time.

Jess has a fantastic track record in the Olympics; she snagged a silver medal in the K1 event at Rio 2016 and took home bronze in Tokyo. That bronze was a heartbreaker, as two time penalties kept her from securing gold—she would have won by 0.77 seconds. But she didn’t leave Tokyo empty-handed; she clinched the top spot in the C1 event.

The excitement continues as the second qualifying run is set for later today, Sunday morning AEST. The pressure is on, as only the 22 fastest kayakers from the qualifying rounds will make it through to the semi-finals scheduled for Sunday night, leading up to the final showdown early on Monday.