Australia has won its second medal at the ICF Slalom World Championships at Penrith’s Whitewater Stadium, with Kate Eckhardt claiming bronze in the women’s K1 final.
Eckhardt, who started third in the 12-paddler final, avoided time penalties to lead the overall standings with 103.84 seconds for much of the medal round on Thursday afternoon.
She shifted back to the silver-medal position when Poland’s Klaudia Zwolińska (100.32) completed her run, before Great Britain’s Kimberley Woods (102.09) moved into second place.
Eckhardt had to endure an anxious wait when Camille Prigent went down as the final paddler, but the Frenchwoman eventually finished in sixth place.
“I was proud of the run that I did, so I was really, really happy with how I performed and I put it all out there,” Eckhardt told the Nine Network.
“So, I just had to wait and see. There were so many fast girls out there.
“I was very, very nervous looking at who was to come.”
Eckhardt’s teammate Noémie Fox (114.40) finished 12th in the final.
Australia’s Kaylen Bassett has collected the bronze medal in the men’s C1 event at the ICF Slalom World Championships at Penrith’s Whitewater Stadium.
But star paddler Noémie Fox was in tears after a ninth-placed finish in the women’s C1 final on Thursday afternoon.
French heavyweight Nicolas Gestin clocked 97.13 seconds to claim the men’s C1 gold, followed by Great Britain’s Ryan Westley (98.03).
Competing in windy conditions, Bassett trailed Gestin by 1.61 seconds to be third out of the final 12 competitors.
The 28-year-old was the fifth paddler to set a time and endured a nervous wait to find out if he had finished on the podium.
It is Australia’s first medal of the world titles.
“The conditions were pretty rough today and outside of rain, there’s not much else you really want to be happening on the water with the wind,” Bassett said.
“But [on] the home course, I just felt comfortable. I was at home on the water to feel like I could just paddle my run.”
Competing in front of family and friends, Bassett said he was “lost for words”.
He felt vindicated after making the decision to move interstate from Melbourne to Penrith to further his career.
“The medal today is awesome, but to have even just been racing here at home in the final, that was validation for the move enough,” said Bassett, who came to the sport in his late teens.
“[You] Make a lot of sacrifices, things people don’t see, things people do see and that medal is just the cherry on top of it all. “
Having competed internationally since 2021, Bassett’s bronze medal is his best finish at a world championship.
Fox out of the medals
Fox managed a clean run in the women’s final but finished adrift of the medals.
Poland’s Klaudia Zwolińska won gold ahead of Russian Alsu Minazova (silver) and Brazil’s Ana Sátila (bronze).
Noémie Fox was more than eight seconds off the pace in the women’s C1 final. (Getty Images: Andy Cheung)
Fox, who claimed the gold medal in the kayak cross event at last year’s Paris Olympics, said it was an “amazing” experience to be competing in a world championship final in front of a home crowd.
But despite avoiding time penalties, the Penrith local said she did not deliver a polished performance in the final, finishing more than eight seconds behind Zwolińska.
“It’s incredibly frustrating because I was feeling great,” Fox said.
“It’s a missed opportunity, but that’s the sport as well. And the wind was very hard to manage, for sure.”
Fox’s campaign will continue when she contests the kayak and kayak cross events on Friday and Saturday respectively.
“[I’m] Excited that’s two other opportunities I get,” Fox said.
Noemie Fox has just missed out on a dream start to the ICF Slalom World Championships, finishing fifth in the kayak cross time trials.
Reigning Olympic kayak cross champion Fox was Australia’s best on Monday but missed out on a podium finish on the first day of the championships at Penrith Whitewater Stadium by 0.12 seconds.
Swiss paddler Alena Marx set an unbeatable time of 62.09 seconds to take gold.
Slovenia’s Ajda Novak was second, with Brazilian kayaker Ana Satila in third.
Fox posted a time of 63.35 against Satila’s 63.23.
But the Australian will progress to the head-to-head knock-out rounds, among the best 42 across the men’s and women’s kayak cross time trials.
The 28-year-old shapes as Australia’s best hope of a title at home, with older sister and three-time Olympic gold medallist Jess still recovering from an unexpected surgery to remove a tumour on her kidney.
While labelling Monday’s performance as “frustrating” after an early mistake at the first upstream, the younger Fox believes she has never been better prepared to tackle the world championships.
Fox placed better than top seed Kimberley Woods, with the Briton going 15th-fastest.
“It’s bittersweet because I had a big mistake at the top, but then held it together,” Fox said.
“What’s changed is, previously, I know that that could have derailed me or made me feel that the race was lost.
“To be able to come back and not let something like that affect you when you know it was a bit of a time loss, that’s what I’m really proud of.”
Fox said she wasn’t concerned with proving herself in her sister’s absence, feeling she’d already done so at the Paris Games.
“In Paris, I was there as an individual and not part of a package,” Fox said.
“Regardless of whether she was racing or not here, my approach was going to be the same.
“It’s just harder not having her as a teammate and hard as a sister.”
Australia’s next best woman in the time trials was debutant Codie Davidson, who replaces Fox in the 11-strong squad.
Davidson was 37th-fastest with a time of 78.01 seconds.
Fellow debutant Georgia O’Callaghan won’t progress after a fault at the second gate, placing 50th out of 51.
Timothy Anderson was Australia’s best in the men’s time trials, setting a time of 58.09 seconds to place 10th.
Ben Pope was 33rd after posting a time of 60.19 seconds, while Lucien Delfour just made the cut in 41st.
Anderson trailed 2.88 seconds behind first-placed Spaniard David Llorente.
British top seed Joseph Clarke was second, while Czech kayaker Jakub Krejci was third.
Melbourne product Anderson admitted expectation for podium finishes in Penrith had intensified since the Paris Games, especially in the absence of Jess Fox.
“People know who slalom athletes are now, especially around here. We’re quite well known in the community,” Anderson said.
“You do feel a bit of pressure to perform well.
“It’s been fun, though. It’s nice to have something to motivate you.
“I feel like after the Olympics, it was quite hard to find the fire and the drive again for quite a long time, so it’s really nice to have something to really work towards every day.”
Australia’s paddlers will return on Tuesday for the canoe slalom heats, with the championships to run until Saturday.