Fox and Delfour (below) continue to impress in World Cup Two.
JESS Fox OAM and Lucien Delfour have repeated their joint success from World Cup One in Spain, once again winning Gold (WC1) and Bronze (MK1) respectively. Jess added a second medal to her collection from Pau on the final day, winning Bronze in the newly created Kayak Cross Time Trial.
After breaking a five-year World Cup podium drought last week in Spain, Lucien repeated the effort in Pau, France for his second successive Bronze medal
“I am pretty happy again,” said Lucien. “I did not expect a medal. It was a tricky week of training. I struggled a bit. I was not happy, but I am glad that it worked out in the end.”
Kate Eckhardt also impressed for the Australian team, reaching the Women’s Kayak (WK1) Final and finishing 5th.
Jess Fox missed the women’s Kayak Final again in Pau but history shows such disappointments are regularly followed by an outstanding performance, and Pau was no exception.
As in Spain, Jess started from the middle of the pack in the Women’s Canoe (WC1) Final, setting a fabulous time which her pursuers failed to match, giving her a second successive Gold medal in this year’s World Cup series.
Speaking after the WC1 Final, Jess said, “It was a great run. I’m proud of that race. I think it’s so satisfying when you can lift in the Final and can deliver a better run than in the heats, and put pressure on everyone else to challenge that time.
“I had some key things that I wanted to improve, and I felt like I did that. I was quite surprised to see the time. I was thinking if I could do a 109, that would be a good time, but 105 plus two, you know, it’s amazing, so I’m happy and proud of that.”
Australians Tristan Carter and Kaylen Bassett both reached the Final of the Men’s Canoe (MC1), with Carter finishing 9th and Bassett 12th.
Jess Fox then won her first Kayak Cross medal of the 2025 international season on Day Three, securing bronze in the Individual Kayak Cross.
This was a new category and for the first time this season, medals were awarded to the fastest finishers in the Kayak Cross time trials, as well as the place getters in the Kayak Cross finals.
Jess recorded a time of 58.68 seconds, earning her the bronze medal, with Olympic champion, and sister, Noemie Fox OAM only 0.2 seconds behind that in fifth place, and just outside of the podium finishers.
“It’s fantastic to win the bronze today in the time trial – it’s a new format…normally we don’t get medals for the time trial but this year we do. It gives you a little bit more incentive to go hard, and try and hit that top spot, whereas normally we’re just racing to make the top 32 and be seeded for the brackets.
“It was tight, Noemie raced so well as well, she was 0.2 off the podium (in the time trial) so it’s a tight field and I was really pleased to step up onto that third step today,” Jess said.
