Tokyo Olympics 2020: Australia’s Fox makes history by winning 1st women’s canoe slalom gold

Tokyo: Australia’s Jessica Fox made Olympic history today as the first gold medalist in women’s canoe slalom at the Tokyo Games.

Fox made the last run of the final and crushed it, beating rival and silver medalist Mallory Franklin of Britain with a winning run of 105.04 seconds through the rapids of the Kasai Canoe Slalom Center.

And it was a clean run without the mistakes and penalty seconds that prevented her from winning gold in the kayak slalom two days earlier when she won bronze.

Fox and Franklin came to the Olympics ranked 1-2 in the world. Franklin went fifth in the final. She hit one gate on her run for a 2-second penalty but her time of 108.68 held top position until Fox took the gold.

The women’s canoe slalom is one of 18 new events introduced to the Olympics this year in a push for gender equity. It replaced the men’s double canoe slalom.

Andrea Herzog of Germany won the bronze medal.