PARIS (Reuters) – Defending Olympic champions Jessica Fox of Australia and Jiri Prskavec of the Czech Republic finished the first runs in their respective heats in second place on a hot afternoon of canoe slalom at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on Tuesday.
Fox, who won gold in the single kayak event on Sunday at the Paris Games, started superbly in the single canoe event and eased off in the second part of the course to come home second in 100.05 seconds, just behind Czech Gabriela Satkova.
In the men’s single kayak discipline, Pedro Goncalves of Brazil set the pace but it was France’s Titouan Castryck who thrilled the home crowd with the fastest run of the day, completing the course in 83.71 seconds.
Last out, world number one Prskavec lashed through the course but slowed down after the final gate to come in 0.03 seconds behind Castryck, all but guaranteeing he will take one of the 20 semi-final places on offer to the 24 competitors.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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