Current:Home > MarketsEvy Leibfarth 'very proud' after winning Olympic bronze in canoe slalom -MoneyBase
Evy Leibfarth 'very proud' after winning Olympic bronze in canoe slalom
View
Date:2025-04-15 17:42:41
PARIS — Evy Leibfarth barely made it into the finals of the women’s canoe slalom, but she was faster than nearly every other racer once she got there.
Leibfarth won Team USA’s first canoe slalom medal in 20 years Wednesday, capturing the bronze at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium with a score of 109.95.
Australia’s Jessica Fox (101.06) won gold and Germany’s Elena Lilik (103.54) took silver.
Fox and Leibfarth incurred 2-second penalties for striking a gate.
“My first World Cup medal was with Jess, maybe like five years ago and I remember it being really special just to be in the start line with one of my idols,” Leibfarth told reporters after the medal ceremony. “I think it’s a really crazy feeling when you kind of start reaching that level. But I mean, both of these girls I’ve looked up to for so long. I think they’re amazing paddlers, they’re beautiful to watch on the water and I feel very proud to be up here with them.”
2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.
Leibfarth, 20, was the last woman to qualify for the 12-racer finals field, finishing more than 12 seconds behind Czechia’s Gabriella Satkova in the 18-person semifinal.
Get Olympics updates in your texts! Join USA TODAY Sports' WhatsApp Channel
But she got off to a better start in the finals, and never relinquished her podium spot.
Leibfarth, who failed to qualify for the kayak slalom finals Sunday, is the first U.S. woman to medal in canoe slalom and the first to medal in any solo canoe event since Rebecca Giddens took silver in kayak slalom in 2004, the same year Leibfarth was born.
Leibfarth has one more event in the Olympics, kayak cross, which begins Friday.
She said Sunday she’s excited to take part in the new Olympic event, where four competitors drop off simultaneously from a raised platform and race through a gated course.
"It’s a lot of just kind of being aware of your surroundings, aware of where the other girls are and you’ve got to really want it cause I mean, it’s kind of a contact sport so you’ve got to be fricking going for it," Leibfarth said.
Fox, who won gold in kayak slalom, and Satkova also will take part in kayak cross.
“I’ll be giving it a red-hot crack,” Fox, Australia’s flag bearer, told reporters in her post-medal news conference. “There are so many strong girls, two of them are next to me. But from the other kayak paddlers, canoe paddlers, it’s a very strong field.”
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
veryGood! (95)
Related
- Sonya Massey's father decries possible release of former deputy charged with her death
- Protecting Norfolk from Flooding Won’t Be Cheap: Army Corps Releases Its Plan
- Cleanse, Hydrate, and Exfoliate Your Skin With a $40 Deal on $107 Worth of First Aid Beauty Products
- Whistleblower Quits with Scathing Letter Over Trump Interior Dept. Leadership
- What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
- King Charles III Can Carry On This Top-Notch Advice From Queen Elizabeth II
- Antarctica’s Winds Increasing Risk of Sea Level Rise from Massive Totten Glacier
- In Fracking Downturn, Sand Mining Opponents Not Slowing Down
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Paris gets a non-alcoholic wine shop. Will the French drink it?
Ranking
- A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
- Today’s Climate: May 8-9, 2010
- Michigan's abortion ban is blocked for now
- Jamie Foxx Breaks Silence After Suffering Medical Emergency
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- Rachel Bilson Reveals Her Favorite—and Least Favorite—Sex Positions
- Over half of people infected with the omicron variant didn't know it, a study finds
- Joe Manchin on his political future: Everything's on the table and nothing off the table
Recommendation
$73.5M beach replenishment project starts in January at Jersey Shore
You Won't Be Sleepless Over This Rare Photo of Meg Ryan
States Begin to Comply with Clean Power Plan, Even While Planning to Sue
InsideClimate News Celebrates 10 Years of Hard-Hitting Journalism
Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
16 migrants flown to California on chartered jet and left outside church: Immoral and disgusting
Today’s Climate: May 22-23, 2010
Priyanka Chopra Recalls Experiencing “Deep” Depression After Botched Nose Surgery