Paris Olympic champion Jessica Fox OAM (AUS) has won both the Oceania WK1 and WC1 crowns, Finn Butcher (NZL) won the MK1 crown, Tristan Carter (AUS) the MC1 crown, Ben Pope (AUS) the MKX and Paris Olympic champion Noemie Fox OAM the WKX on a huge weekend of canoe slalom at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium.

Jess finished first in the WK1, ahead of of Klaudia Zwolinska (POL) in second place and Camille Prigent (FRA) in third.

“It was good to be out there, to be back on the start line at the start of the year, and feel good,” Jess said.

“I wasn’t really sure how I was going to feel, but I attacked it and I’m proud of myself so far this weekend. It’s always a great time of year having international athletes come out and do their winter preparations here.

“With the World Championships here in October, we’re seeing more athletes come out, so it’s awesome to be sharing the start line with them, training sessions, and being back altogether.

“It feels like it was a long time ago since the last international race, so I’m loving it,” she said.

Other Australians in the 12-woman WK1 Final were Noemie Fox OAM (4th) and Kate Eckhardt (6th),

In the men’s kayak final, Frenchman Mathieu Biazizzo was the fastest paddler down the course, but ineligible to win the Oceania crown.

Paris Olympic champion Finn Butcher (NZL) finished second, and as the highest-placed Oceania athlete won the Oceania title, with 2x Australian Olympian Lucien
Delfour rounding out the podium in third.

Other Australians in the 12-man MK1 Final were Tim Anderson (5th), Ben Pope (9th) and Angus Thompson (10th).

Paris Olympic silver medallist Adam Burgess (GBR) won the men’s canoe final (MC1), ahead of Dmitrii Khramtsov (AIN) in second and Australian Olympian Tristan Carter in third.

As the highest placed Oceania athlete, Carter won the men’s canoe Oceania crown.

“I was stoked that I was able to hold it together – although the actual run itself wasn’t that great, I ended up doing a couple of spins where I didn’t really want to” Carter said.

“But I’m really happy, even though I didn’t perform how I wanted to. And that’s a sign of maturity, that’s growth and I’m really happy with that.

“It’s still a big check for me and I’m really happy to come away with the Oceania championship and third overall – it all worked out in the end,” he said.

Other Australians in the 12-man MC1 Final were Kaylen Bassett (10th) and Ben Ross (11th).

Backing up after the earlier kayak finals, Jess Fox paddled strongly to finish second in the women’s canoe (WC1) Final to claim her second 2025 Oceania crown, despite finishing behind Olympic bronze medallist Evy Leibfarth (USA) in first place and Klaudia Zwolinska (POL) rounding out the podium in third.

Other Australians in the 12-woman WC1 Final were Noemie Fox (4th), Kate Eckhardt (7th), Georgia O’Callaghan (11th) and Code Davidson (12th).

West Australian Pope won the men’s kayak cross final (MKX) on the last day of racing to claim the Oceania crown, whilst Noemie Fox was also crowned Oceania champion, despite narrowly missing the Final in a world class field.

Pope was dominant in the Men’s Final, exploding off the start ramp and holding onto his lead down the course to cross the line in first.

“It was a big day today – lots of kayak cross. I had a really good time trial run, I finished in third and I was super happy with that, and that set me up really well for the rest of the racing,” Pope said.

“Through the head to heads, and each round, I managed to just get out in front of everybody and I built a lead through the rest of the run, and managed to finish first each round all the way to the final,” he said.

Noemie reached the Women’s semi finals, then finishing third to narrowly miss the Final.

Noemie said she was proud of her efforts today, especially amongst a world class field of women’s competitors.

“It was a very stacked kayak cross field – we had Olympic champions, world champion, European champion, lots of World Cup winners…

“So in the female field, it was so stacked and it’s incredible to have them all here training and to go up against them.

“Disappointed to be knocked out in the semis and I felt like I couldn’t do anything (differently), so there’s lots to build and learn from.

“But it feels like a real privilege to have such high level competition at home.”.

The action will return to the Penrith Whitewater Stadium from 21-23 February, for the 2025 Canoe Slalom AUS Open