Kayak Singles, Slalom, Women

All three medalists from the previous edition’s women’s K-1 slalom, Elisabeth Micheler-Jones of Germany, Danielle Woodward of Australia, and Dana Chladek of the United States, returned to the Olympics in 1996 to compete once again. The Czech Republic’s Marcela Sadilová was the reigning European champion, while Myriam Fox of France and Lynn Simpson of Great Britain were the 1993 and 1995 World Champions respectively. None of these women, however, were in the top three after the first run: Fox was fourth, Micheler-Jones was fifth, and the next best was Sadilová, who was 18th. Occupying the first three positions were Štěpánka Hilgertová of the Czech Republic, Anne Boixel of France, and Cathy Hearn of the United States. Of the top five, only Fox improved her score in the second run, although Hilgertová’s remained good enough to earn the gold medal. Chladek, however, who had been last after the first round (save for Latvia’s Dzintra Blūma, who failed to complete the course), had an amazing run in the second portion of the tournament and managed to tie the Czech’s gold medal-winning mark, although her low first-round score left her with silver. Fox’s improvement, meanwhile, was good enough to take bronze over Italy’s Maria Cristina Giai Pron, who was third in the second round and fourth overall.