Delightful double déjà vu for Jess Fox in Paris (2024)

PARIS -- Up on the grassy banks perched above the Vaires-sur-Marne rapids, Jess Fox's mother, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, prepares for her own slalom run. The moment her superstar daughter plunges into the white water to begin her quest for back-to-back Olympic C1 gold, mum is off, running alongside and eagerly coaxing Fox through each gate, all while weaving between marshals and the many photographers snapping away.

Ninety seconds later, she's completed the course on foot and is standing metres from the finish line frantically waving her home like any good third-base coach. But she may as well have saved her energy; Fox was yet again in a class of her own on the Parisian water. She was never losing this final.

Fox glided through the remaining gates, promptly stopping the clock a mind-boggling two-and-a-half-seconds quicker than that of her closest rival. She then slapped the water in jubilation as the capacity grandstand cradling the 200m-long course hit fever pitch in celebration of her latest masterpiece.

Just as it was after her K1 run on Sunday, Fox would have to watch on before learning her Olympic fate -- albeit with just Czechia's Gabriela Satkova to come -- but once again there was no reason to be concerned. Her job was done, and done better than anyone else's A-game would ever manage. And when Satkova clipped the second gate at the beginning of her run, it all but confirmed the delightful déjà vu for Australia's star slalom canoeist.

"That's what we all work towards, that one day every four years," an emotional Fox told reporters moments after learning she was now the first in her sport to become a three-time Olympic gold medalist. "To be able to stay composed is the coolest feeling as an athlete; when you've worked so hard in training to be able to pull it off when it matters. The fact that I did it twice is a credit to the hard work that the whole team has put into me. I'm so grateful to them."

For the second time in three days, Fox's trademark and unrivalled control with the paddle was on full display. There was no panic. No splashing about. Almost everyone that had tackled these treacherous rapids before her appeared to be battling from the moment they dived in until they were spat out the other end. Almost all had either collected gates and incurred time penalties or run long and been forced to desperately paddle back upstream. But for Fox, it was smooth and seemingly effortless as she cut her way through the course, leaving a fierce trail of white water in her wake.

So dominant was her run that the rare mistake of grazing gate 19 really did no harm. She could afford it. In fact, she could have touched another and still had enough time in hand to successfully defend her title.

"In the sport of canoe slalom, she won't be beaten by anybody any time soon," an elated Fox-Jerusalmi, a champion paddler in her own right, told Australian broadcaster Nine. "I'm extremely proud of what she delivered today, because that was the mental effort more than anything else."

At this point, Fox is playing with house money. She knows it, and that's a terrifying prospect for her canoe and kayak rivals.

Fox checked off the only accolade that was previously missing from her burgeoning trophy cabinet on day two in Paris, blowing the field away with a magical run to win gold in the traditional K1. It was a performance that rubberstamped her place as the greatest paddler on the planet. Now, she's relaxed, having fun, and on a legacy free roll, all of which culminated in Wednesday's pressure-free C1 masterclass.

A third Olympic gold medal, as well as a silver and a pair of bronzes -- the greatest haul of individual Olympic medals by an Australian -- now has Fox firmly in the room with the nation's greatest athletes to ever live. But she might just be set to enter an ever more exclusive club.

Later this week, Fox will attempt a Paris clean sweep when she contests the new kayak cross, an event she has never not medalled in at World Cup level. If successful, she would become the first Australian to win three individual gold medals at an Olympic Games and join iconic sprinter Betty Cuthbert as the only non-swimmers from the country with a swag of four Olympic golds.

The prospect of reaching such uncharted sporting waters might just ratchet up the nerves and pressure once more. But Fox has shown time and again she's more than equipped to handle it, and then some.