Australia’s Jessica Fox had looked on course for victory in the women’s K1 competition, having had to settle for silver in yesterday’s C1 event due to the video judges giving her a crucial penalty after connecting with a gate.

It proved to be déjà vu for the 22-year-old as she completed the course in the fastest time of the day, only for the judges to determine that the Australian had missed a gate, resulting in a 50 second penalty and a 10th place finish.

France’s Marie-Zelia Lafont took full advantage of her rival’s error to claim her first World Cup medal, with the 29-year-old storming to victory in a time of 1min 48.36sec.

Jana Dukatova went closest to beating the Frenchwoman as the Slovakian kayaker completed the course in 1:50.79, while Spain’s Maialen Chourraut finished in 1:53.46 to complete the podium places.

The bronze continued Chourraut’s fine form, following on from her victory at last weekend’s World Cup in La Seu d'Urgell.

“It's my first medal in a World Cup and it happens at home so I am delighted,” said Lafont.

“It's so special to win here in Pau, the crowd is big, the atmosphere is awesome.”

There was further success for the host nation when Pierre-Antoine Tillard and Edern Ruyet earned a narrow victory over Germany’s Robert Behling and Thomas Becker in the men’s C2 competition.

Having won last week’s World Cup, the French pair were able to repeat the feat by finishing in a time of 1:50.12.

Behling and Becker ended just 0.42 seconds adrift to claim the silver medal, while France’s Nicolas Scianimanico and Hugo Cailhol secured bronze by finishing in 1:50.85.