Kimberley Woods left in tears after missing out on medal in canoe slalom K1 after poor run sees her finish last for Team GB in the final… as Ricarda Funk takes gold for Germany and Australia’s Jess Fox forced to settle with bronze
- Kimberley Woods picked up huge 56 second penalty as she propped up top 10
- The star from Rugby had missed a gate, costing her 50 seconds of her time
- The 25-year-old admitted the occasion was tough to deal with on Olympic debut
- Ricarda Funk saw off Olympic champion Maialen Chourraut to take gold medal
- Heavy favourite Jess Fox once again was forced to settle for a bronze medal
- Find out the latest Tokyo Olympic news including schedule, medal table and results right here
Kimberley Woods missed out on landing a medal in her debut Olympic Games in the canoe slalom K1 final after finishing bottom of all the runners following a disastrous run.
Woods, ranked 16th in the world, reached the final with the sixth fastest time from the semi-final and had hoped to earn a medal having recorded her best time of the season during the run where she looked to have hit top form at just the right time.
But it deserted her in the final, picking up four penalties, one being the hammer blow of 50 seconds deducted from her time after missing going through gate 17 just over halfway through the course.
Kimberley Woods is consoled by her team after missing out on a chance to land a canoe medal
Woods’ poor run in the K1 final saw her finish last after missing a gate, leaving her in tears
Knowing her chances of a medal had expired, the rest of Woods’ run saw her cut a dejected figure and she was left in tears after crossing the finish line as she propped up the order of the 10 finalists.
Woods also picked up three-two second penalties after hitting gates four, 12 and the penultimate 24, at which point she had already effectively aborted her run with a time of 121.09 minus the 56 second time penalty in total.
An emotional Woods admitted after that an early time penalty played a role in her uncharacteristic showing in the final.
‘I am more disappointed in myself’, the star from Rugby told Eurosport. ‘It’s probably been my worse paddling in quite a while. I’m human and still got a lot to grow.
Woods struggled throughout the run and was penalised heavily for missing a gate
The Rugby based star cut a dejected figure throughout the latter part of her final run
‘An early penalty threw me a little bit. It came at me really quick. I was going out hard and I gave everything I got. I thought I was getting back on track and then another penalty came and it fell away. Thoughts were coming in that don’t usually come in. Everything has been new to me and it was my first Olympic final.
‘I’m finally an Olympian and a lot of it was so much emotion to deal with. I did my best today.
‘I’ve struggled with mental health, I’ve been bullied at school and just to get here was such a big achievement. Just to get here and be in the final was… I had an emotional time thinking “I’m in the Olympic final”. But it wasn’t for me today.’
Ricarda Funk saw off strong challenges to take gold medal for Germany in the K1 final
Heavy favourite Jess Fox of Australia was once again forced to settle for a bronze medal
The 25-year-old had qualified for the Games in 2019 after finishing sixth in the senior world championship following a strong campaign.
Ricarda Funk took gold for Germany ahead of defending Olympic champion Maialen Chourraut of Spain with a time of 105.50 without fault.
Jess Fox of Australia, son of five-time British K1 world champion Richard Fox, was a huge favourite to take gold but was forced to settle for the bronze medal she also won in Rio, following on from a silver medal in London back in 2012.