Bronze medallist Jess Fox says officials made a "fair call" to hand her a two-second penalty that cost her a chance of finishing higher in the women's K1 canoe slalom final at the Rio Olympics.

Fox had crossed the line in first place with four paddlers remaining in the final with a time of 100.49.

But her joy soon subsided when an asterisk appeared beside her name on the scoreboard at the Whitewater Stadium indicating her performance was under video review.

Loading

Minutes later it was confirmed Fox had incurred a two-second penalty for touching a gate during her run and she dropped back to second place behind New Zealand's Luuka Jones (101.82) on the standings with a total time of 102.49.

Both Fox and Jones moved down a place when Spain's Maialen Chourraut executed an almost perfect run to scoop the gold with a time of 98.65.

The bronze medal adds to the silver Fox won as an 18-year-old at the London Olympics.

Fox said she could not remember if she made contact with the gate because the windy conditions made it difficult to judge.

But the 2014 world champion agreed with the decision made by course officials.

"With the wind it's hard to know," Fox said.

"I haven't checked the video but I'm sure it's probably there. It's hard to know but I came in tight, it wasn't a perfect upstream and I knew that I slid out so the touch could have been there.

"I didn't feel it because it's on my back but that is what the video judges look at and it's a fair call."

Jessica Fox says the windy conditions meant she didn't feel it when she hit a gate. ( Getty Images: Rob Carr )

Fox admitted she went "through all the emotions" as she waited to find out if she had been penalised.

"I think finishing that run I was thrilled to put down a run, it wasn't perfect but it went into the lead and that was fantastic," she said.

"And then obviously the asterisk came up and a late penalty was added and my heart sank because I didn't know if that would be good enough for a podium."

Fox already looking to Tokyo Olympics

Jessica Fox shows off her bronze medal in Rio. ( AP Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth )

Fox has trained from time to time with Chourraut, who had joined the Australian on the podium in London where she won the bronze medal.

The 22-year-old was ecstatic for the Spaniard but the result had already fired her ambition to win gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

"I'm more motivated than ever, I'm the fittest I've been and I was the paddling the best I've ever been paddling," Fox said.

"So it's really encouraging, really motivating."

Loading

Earlier, Fox enjoyed safe passage through to the decider from the semi-finals.

Fox produced a patient display, as she avoided any time penalties during a clean run to post an overall score of 104.50.

She was fifth out of 15 in the semi-final, having only needed to place inside the top 10 to advance to the final.

The France-born Fox had performed strongly for much of the build-up to Rio, with podium finishes at the opening two World Cup events in Ivrea and La Seu d'Urgell.