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Jess Fox had a promising showing in the women's K1 event, while Britain's David Florence ignited British hopes for London 2012 with a double gold in C1 and C2.
On her last day as a 17 year old, Australia's Jess Fox made the final at the first ICF World Cup of 2012, finishing 7th. The result shows that her preparations for the London Olympics are progressing following the Australian team training camp on the Lee Valley Olympic course last week.
"I guess it wasn't my best race but I was happy to make the final as that was my goal for this race. Coming off a pretty hard block of training in London, I am not sure I was as fresh as I could have been, so there is something to learn off that" Fox said
“In the final it didn't all piece together as well as I would have liked, I had a penalty and lost a bit of time everywhere and ended up 7th. Hopefully I can improve on that for the next one, but for today I am happy to have made a final and race with world and Olympic champions”, she said.
In front of Fox were Britain's Fiona Pennie and Cindy Poeschel of Germany, neither of whom will be at the Games.
The most impressive runs came from Maielen Chourraut of Spain and Slovakian Jana Dukatova who measured their faultless efforts with great care to take first and second ahead of Poeschel, who fought her way into third.
Despite the win, Chourraut, like most of the competitors, found the course and water challenging.
“It was a very difficult race for me. I had not had a good feeling about the water yesterday and I was not fast, however today was better”, smiled the Spaniard.
Overall, the Australian women had a solid showing as a group with Fox in 7th, Ros Lawrence in 12th, Kate Lawrence, 15th and Sarah Grant 21st.
“It is a good race course and challenging but not easy to get used to on just a few days training” said Ros Lawrence
Head Coach Mike Druce said, “overall, it was a worthwhile weekend, the field was very strong and it was a tough test for anyone to get it all together on the surging water.
One man who did get it all together was Britain's Dave Florence who became the star of the show winning an unprecedented 2 gold medals, in the C2 event with partner Richard Hounslow today, and in the C1 event.
The World Cup circuit continues with round two in Pau, France next weekend. Bon voyage!
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