Ziga Lin Hocevar, Ben Pope, Jakub Krejci, Tim Anderson. Photo: JGR Images / Paddle Australia
AUSTRALIA has won two Gold (Noemie Fox OAM and Ben Pope), 2 Silver (Noemie Fox and Kaylen Bassett) and 2 Bronze (Tristan Carter and Lucien Delfour) medals at the 2026 Canoe Slalom Australian Open, which was held at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium over the 20-22nd February.
Noemie, Kaylen and Tristan started the medal rush on Friday, in the Canoe events, with Noemie finishing second in the WC1 and Kaylen and Tristan finishing second and third respectively in the MC1.
Saturday was a Gold Medal day for Australia, with Noemie winning the Women’s Kayak (WK1) and Ben finishing equal first with Jakub Krejci (CZE) in the Men’s Kayak (MK1).
Sunday’s action was the most hectic, with the Kayak Cross Time Trial, followed by heats, quarter final, semi-finals then the final, with Codie Davidson the only Australian woman to reach that stage of the competition, whilst Lucien would go on to capture the Bronze medal in the Men’s event, just ahead of Australian compatriot Tim Anderson This was Anderson’s second fourth placing in the Australian Open, having also finishing fourth in the MK1.
Gold medallists Fox and Pope spoke after their respective successes on Saturday.
“I’m super happy.” Noemie said. “First-ever K1 win at a world ranking event as well. I took a lot of risks in that run and really tried to push hard. After winning a lot of qualifications, it felt great to finally win a final,
For me I’ve always known I can have podium-winning runs and it just hasn’t quite been there. And that’s what
this is, it’s that confidence-building run to finally put it down when it counts.”
“It was quite a nerve-wracking race to be honest.” Ben said. “I didn’t have a good weekend last weekend (Penrith Open), so I knew I had to bring it all out this weekend and really put my best forward. I wanted to win. I wanted to put down good runs and I do feel like I’ve achieved that today.”
The final event of the domestic canoe slalom season, the 2026 Paddle Australia Canoe Slalom National Championships, will take place at Penrith Whitewater Stadium from the 17-18 April.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN RESULTS
(Day One) – Women’s C1 – 1st Zuzana Pankova (SVK), 2nd Noemie Fox OAM (AUS), 3rd Klaudia Zwolinska (POL); Men’s C1 – 1st Ziga Lin Hocevar (SLO), 2nd Kaylen Bassett (AUS), 3rd Tristan Carter (AUS).
Day Two – Women’s K1 – 1st Noemie Fox OAM (AUS), 2nd Zuzana Pankova (SVK), 3rd Eva Alina Hocevar (SLO); Men’s K1 – Equal 1st Ben Pope (AUS) and Jakub Krejci (CZE), 3rd Ziga Lin Hocevar (SLO).
Day Three – Women’s Kayak Cross – 1st Zuzana Pankova (SVK), 2nd Kimberley Woods (GBR), 3rd Tereza Kneblova (CZE); Men’s Kayak Cross – 1st Matyas Novak (CZE), 2nd Martin Rudorfer (CZE), 3rd Lucien Delfour (AUS).
