Jess Fox OAM – World Cup Series WK1 Champion.  Photos courtesy of Romain Bruneau / Paddle Australia

THREE-time Olympic champion Jess Fox OAM has claimed her sixth women’s K1 World Cup title, with victory in the WK1 Final at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Final in La Seu, Spain.

Jess won her third women’s K1 World Cup gold medal of the season and was clinical in her performance across the heats, semi-finals and final, saving her absolute best run to last.

“It’s a heavy day, it’s a heavy program. Each run you’re mentally preparing, you’re physically pushing. You need to pace yourself to make the top 30, then make the final so my arms are exploding and I’ve got another day tomorrow,” Jess said.

“To put down those runs on a hard course, I’m really proud and really happy to win, and sad to knock my sister (Noemie) off the podium but it’s very special to share it with Cami [Prigent] and Monica [Doria] here.”

The victory in Spain was the 13th overall World Cup title for Jess and her sixth Women’s K1 World Cup title, finishing with 322 points for the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Series.

“I love racing in Seu. The support here is amazing. It’s always a really lovely place to race and to get that feel for the World Champs next year. It’ll be my third World Championships here, if I’m there hopefully.

“It’s always good to race here and it’s an important step along the way. I’m really happy to be on top today,” Fox said.

Noemie Fox OAM also made the WK1 Final, finishing just off the podium in fourth.

Paris 2024 Olympian Tim Anderson also reached the Men’s K1 final and finished 8th overall.

Day Three featured the Canoe events and Jess, a seven-time Women’s C1 World Cup champion, narrowly missed out on a record-extending World Cup Series title, finishing second overall, by just two points after a dramatic WC1 Final.

Jess needed a top-six finish in the WC1 Final to claim the overall Series crown, but a costly error at gate 15 saw her capsize and finish seventh.

Eva Alina Hocevar (SLO) took the WC1 World Cup title with 234 points, ahead of Jess on 232 and Tereza Kneblova (CZE) on 223 in third.

“It was pretty challenging out there today. I started really well in the heats and then to qualify for the final was tough because it was a very tight semi final,” Jess said.

“In the (Canoe) Final, slalom is a sport of centimetres and unfortunately I was just a bit off line and that meant I made a big mistake. I turned upside down, said hello to the fish, struggled to find my paddle to roll and lost a lot of time there.

“I’m proud to have fought to the finish line, and unfortunately not on the podium for the WC1 event, but I’m on the podium for the overall (series), which is great.

Paris 2024 Olympian Tristan Carter finished the season with an incredible run in the Men’s C1 Final. Going down the course early in the final, Tristan briefly held the lead before finishing in fourh spot, his best result of the 2026 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Series.