Meet Codie Davidson — the teenager set to replace Jess Fox at world titles after legend's health scare

Codie Davidson had a picture taken with Jess Fox and scored a signed poster of the Aussie canoe slalom legend upon her grand return from the Tokyo Olympics.

At the canoe slalom world championships in Penrith next week, the 18-year-old will be filling in for Fox on her senior Australian debut.

"It's very intimidating sometimes when you think about it," Davidson told Wide World of Sports, "but it's nice, and when I look back it's very surreal."

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Fox withdrew from her home world championships, taking place at Penrith Whitewater Stadium next week, after having surgery to remove a tumour from her kidney.

At the official pre-world championships media event, held at Sydney's Taronga Zoo on Friday, the three-time Olympic gold medallist said she'd had "a lot to digest" and explained she didn't want to put herself on the start line if she wasn't at her best.

Watch the ICF Slalom World Championships live and free on Nine and 9Now.

The greatest canoe slalom athlete of all time will be replaced by Davidson in the kayak cross event — the combative discipline in which four athletes race on the same course at the same time.

Davidson won bronze in kayak cross at the junior world championships in Poland last year and is now ready to make the jump to the big time.

And the young gun will be making her senior Australian debut on the very waters she learned to paddle.

"It's exciting," said Davidson, who hails from Emu Plains in Sydney's west.

"I feel confident that I can do my best because I know this course like the back of my hand."

At the age of 10, Davidson was introduced to canoe slalom at a come-and-try day run by Western Sydney Whitewater Club.

She also played netball as a young girl, but gave it up in her early teens to focus on canoe slalom.

"I enjoyed it more than netball," Davidson said.

"And then becoming an elite, I guess, was part of it after I started believing in myself more."

She also used to wakeboard behind a speedboat her family used to own.

"I've always loved being in the water," Davidson said, "and I think surfing the waves feels really fun, and it's always nice to be on the water."

She finished year 12 last year and is now studying sport and exercise science at Australian Catholic University.

Fox had some invaluable advice for the teenager.

"My advice to Codie is to keep it simple and do what you know how to do," Fox said.

"It's always a bit scary and intimidating racing against the big girls, I think.

"But at the same time, she's got youth on her side, it's her home course, and I just want [her] to sit up there on that kayak cross ramp and breathe it all in, look out to her family and friends, and know that she's got all the support of everyone around her.

"Stepping up to race against the big girls is going to be daunting, but it's also exciting, and I hope she can enjoy the moment and soak it all up."

Fox's legend grew on the rough waters of Nautical Stadium on the outskirts of Paris last year, where the French-born superstar won gold medals in the C1 and K1 events.

Her younger sister, Noemie, won a shock gold medal in kayak cross on her Olympic debut in Paris, setting the stage for the priceless scenes which saw Jess, who had been eliminated, leap into the water to celebrate with her sister.

As for Fox's recent health scare, she said she'd found it tough coming to grips with the experience and her subsequent withdrawal from her home world championships.

"I think, obviously, this has been a huge shock and a lot to digest, but once I'd gotten out of surgery and was in my recovery, I think it was pretty clear that I wouldn't be racing world champs," the 31-year-old said.

"If I'm on that start line I want to be ready and I want to be at my best, and I had to put my health first.

"So I think digesting for me has been about processing the fact that it just wasn't meant to be, but that I still get to be part of it in a different way and that I should enjoy it, embrace it and be grateful to be able to be well enough to be there and supporting everyone else."