CANOE/KAYAK: Olympic silver medallist Jessica Fox has won bronze at the opening Canoe Slalom World Cup event of the year, on the same course and in the same event she won silver in 2012.
Fox, who turns 20 next week, qualified fastest for the K1 final at Lee Valley in England.
She executed a penalty-free run in the final, but was unable to match the speed of China's Lu Li and Austria's Corrina Kuhnle.
Li won the gold in 110.64, which included a two-second penalty, while Kuhnle picked up four seconds in penalties but her time of 111.03 was quick enough for silver. Fox finished in 111.18 seconds.
Another Australian, Victoria's Sarah Grant, finished sixth.
Fox's bronze medal follows on from a fourth on Saturday in the C1 final, the non-Olympic event in which she is the current World Champion.
This weekend was the first time Fox has raced on the Lee Valley course since the 2012 Olympics.
British paddler Mallory Franklin dominated her home course winning the C1 gold in 122.44, 9.80 seconds ahead of fellow countrywomen Eilidh Gibson.
Alison Borrows got her World Cup season off to a solid start finishing a respectable eighth, 22.23 seconds behind Franklin.
Earlier in the day NSW canoeist Rosalyn Lawrence finished 13th in the semifinal.
Ian Borrows was the best of the Australian men at Lee Valley finishing 18th in the C1M semifinal.
The 24 year olds raw time of 103.06 would have been fast enough for a place in the final, but four seconds in penalties for gate touches on seven and 18 proved costly for the Australian Open champion.
Western Australian Robin Jeffery finished closely behind Borrows in 20th place.
On Friday Victorian Christian Fabris finished 38th in the heat.
Great Britain continued to dominate their home course with David Florence winning the C1M final in 99.87, 3.33 seconds ahead of Slovakian Matej Benus. Fellow Slovak Michal Martikan finished third.
World number nine Lucien Delfour was the best of the Australians in the K1M event finishing 24th in the semifinal.
Fellow NSWIS kayaker Will Forsythe also featured in the semi finishing 29th.
The final was won by Frenchman Boris Neveu in 95.19, 2.34 seconds of Czech paddler Vit Prindis. Mateusz Polaczyk of Poland collected the bronze.
U23 World Championship finalist Jaxon Merritt of Victoria finished 50th in yesterday’s heat.
The team finals proceeded the individual events with Delfour, Forsythe and Merritt producing a clean run of 113.18 to finish fourth in the K1M team event.
Australian C2 pairing Robin Jeffery and Ethan Hodson were eliminated in the heat on Friday in 21st place.
Australian Canoeing
