Noemie Fox

Canoeist Noemie Fox, a member of Australia’s most famous paddling family, will join her sister Jess at the Paris Olympics, competing in the new discipline of kayak cross.

Included in the Olympic program for the first time, kayak cross involves four athletes racing each other down the white-water course together. It has been described as “a bit like snowboard cross or BMX racing.”

Noemie clinched her place in Paris when she won a silver medal at the Canoe Slalom World Cup 2024 in Prague, in the Czech Republic, to obtain the quota.

She competed in five back-to-back races on the last day of competition to make the final and then went on to produce a remarkable come-from-behind performance to claim the silver medal.

Noemie is the latest in a paddling dynasty that started with her father – British paddler Richard Fox, a 10-time world champion and bronze medallist at the 1992 Olympics – and her mother, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, who won a bronze medal at the 1996 Games for France.

Sister Jess, with eight individual world titles and Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals, is the most successful paddler in history.

Both sisters were born in the southern French city of Marseille, meaning the Paris Games will represent something of a homecoming when they compete at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.

Coming from a family so connected to the sport, Noemie can’t remember exactly when she took up paddling. “It's hard to pinpoint a date as I always remember being around the sport,” she said. “I started competing competitively when I was 14.”

She has been competing at international level since 2013 and won medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in 2017, 2019 and 2023. Noemie says her most memorable sporting achievement so far is winning bronze at the under-23 world championships in Ivrea, Italy, in 2022.

Mum Miriam, who coaches both Fox sisters, is delighted to have two daughters going to the Olympics.

“I feel ecstatic,” she said. “It’s a dream, it’s like an Olympic gold for me to have two girls at the Olympics. It’s a dream come true for Noemie. She’s been working hard … I’m just so happy.”