'I had to be aggressive, attack, and set the bar high': Jess Fox claims gold again with incredible run in K1 final

Jess Fox entered Paris carrying Australia's flag. She'll leave it with the one Olympic gold medal that had eluded her grasp after winning the women's K1 slalom final with an incredible run through the whitewater.

After a nervy run in the semi-finals that had seen her reach the final as only the eighth-fastest qualifier, the Australian obliterated the rest of the field to post a time of 96.08 when it mattered.

That was three seconds faster than anyone managed in the semi-finals, and good enough to claim her second Olympic gold, and first in the K1.

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Having been one of the earlier runners in the final due to her relatively slow semi-final time, Fox had to endure an excruciating wait as seven other competitors tried to beat her time, only for them to all fall short.

German Ricarda Funk – the top qualifier for the final – had looked the most likely as she topped Fox's early splits, but her gold medal tilt fell apart when she missed a gate to be penalised out of the running.

Instead it was Klaudia Zwolinska of Poland taking home silver, finishing 1.45 seconds adrift of Fox, and bronze for the UK's Kimberley Woods more than a further second adrift.

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Fox's best performance in the K1 had previously been a silver medal in Rio 2016, having taken bronze in London and Tokyo – the latter only as the result of a heartbreaking late penalty.

"She's been number one in the world for I don't know how long, but she's never won the kayak event," father and commentator Richard Fox said.

"And look how good these other competitors are. And it was beatable. And she knew that. And we knew that. And what a final, it was so good."

He said Fox's performance getting through the Paris course's tricky upstream gates was better than anything else she had delivered at an Olympics.

"That's the best upstream she's ever done in an Olympic Games," he said.

"That was her best final in an Olympic Games in the kayak," he added later on.

"I was thinking of the last upstream gate in London. She faltered a little bit in Rio. She hit it in Tokyo, and today she cleaned it.

"And that was the good omen for me that she deserved that so much."

Speaking later on Nine's coverage, Fox said she wasn't sure which upstream gate her dad was talking about, but was excited to go back and watch the run with his commentary.

She knew the run was coming together after the seventh gate.

"My start wasn't perfect and I could see that on the splits ... some of them were faster than me on the top section, but I really built into the run and I started to attack it when I got to the middle," she said.

Fox said her lower qualifying ranking gave her the freedom to attack the course in the final.

"(The semi final) wasn't my best run, and I knew I would be one of the first off in the finals," she said.

"I had to be aggressive, attack, and set the bar high for the girls to come and chase the time.

"Once I got through the semi-final, I felt lighter and wanted to be calm and focused and pull out the best run I could."

Fox admitted she wasn't a huge fan of the Paris Nautical Stadium course, but that only meant she focused more on the details.

"My confidence took a little dent the other day with training and seeing the course – I didn't love the course," she said.

"I just had to focus on piece by piece, gate by gate, trust myself and know I have it in me to pull it out. To do that under pressure is the best feeling."

Fox had previously won her first Olympic gold in the C1 in 2021, and will have a chance to defend that crown when the heats begin on Tuesday night (AEST).

She'll also compete in the women's kayak cross later in the schedule alongside sister Noemie.

- Additional reporting by Damien McCartney