Add Category
Australian Jess Fox has added to her reputation as the greatest canoe slalom exponent in history by winning the women's K1 overall World Cup title at La Seu in Spain for the fourth straight time.
- Australia's Jess Fox has won the women's K1 overall World Cup title by 87 points over Britain's Mallory Franklin
- Fox missed the last final of the season, but had won the other four events
- Fox has won the last four K1 titles, although the 2020 event was not staged because of COVID
Ironically, her latest overall World Cup crown — the ninth of her matchless career — came on a day when the 28-year-old delivered a rare disappointing performance in the kayak.
Fox actually missed out on qualification for Saturday's 10-woman final by one place and had to watch on as world champion Ricarda Funk, of Germany, took the last race of the season with an error-free run.
But even with double points on offer, Fox's position as overall champion was never in doubt after her perfect record of having won the season's four other World Cup K1 races in Prague, Krakow, Tacen and Pau.
She ended up taking the overall title with 304 points, ahead of Britain's Mallory Franklin (217) and Czech Tereza Fiserova (214).
It was the fourth straight time she'd taken the season-long kayak title, though the event wasn't staged in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic.
"It's been an amazing season," Penrith's Olympic C1 champion Fox said.
"I'd have loved to have been in the mix for that final. Unfortunately, I was only in 11th place, but I'm proud of the season I've had and thrilled to take the overall.
"It's been a super strong season from the girls and this final today, it was a pleasure to watch. Hopefully, I'll be back in the next final."
The Australian's weekend is not finished, though, as she still has a chance to add to her record 40 World Cup race wins on Sunday in the C1 and extreme kayak slalom events.
AAP