Australian 16-year-old year 11 school student Britt Cox turned the heads of the world's elite mogul skiers with a personal best 12th place in the United States today.
Skiing in the FIS dual moguls World Championship as clearly the youngest athlete in the finals, the petite dual AIS/NSWIS scholarship holder may well have signalled to the world and the huge crowd on the Deer Valley Mountain in Utah, that her unquestionable talent will soon be richly rewarded at an international level.
Cox finished behind Canadian Jennifer Heil, who added today's gold medal to the individual moguls World Championship title from three days ago. Compatriot Chloe Dufour-Lapointe picked up silver and American Hannah Kearney took home the bronze.
While Cox's 12th place is still a long way from emulating the feats of her heroes - Alisa Camplin, Dale Begg-Smith and Lydia Lassila, all Australian athletes to have won Olympic gold - today was a huge step forward towards achieving that quest.
A little more than 12 months ago she recorded a 29th and 34th in individual moguls in World Cup competition on the same mountain. In the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver last year she finished in 23rd and each of the four times she has stepped out to compete on the World Cup tour this season she has shown significant signs of improvement.
In fact NSW Institute of Sport moguls head coach Peter Topalovic said that practically every coach on the mountain today, including those of the three medalists, praised today's performance by the Scott's School student who grew up on the slopes of Falls Creek.
"Britt made her mark today and just about every coach came up to me and said that they had been really impressed by her performance," Topalovic beamed.
Cox qualified for the finals in 11th place earning the right to dual against Canadian Audrey Robichaud, ranked third in the world.
Cox was neck and neck with her opponent, who is a veteran of 60 World Cup starts dating back to 2005, but was narrowly beaten in the first knock out final round. Robichaud went on to finish fifth today.
Had it not been for a slower start than she would have liked, the young gun Australian may have advanced to the quarter finals.
Cox said she found the 28-degree incline and 240-metre long Deer Valley course physically challenging, which is not surprising given her youthful age.
"Competing in Deer Valley is a real challenge that I look forward to. It is one of the toughest courses in the world and has a great atmosphere with thousands of people watching," Cox said.
"After making a mistake on the bottom section in the single moguls on Wednesday and missing the final by one place, I had extra motivation to do well in the dual moguls.
"Overall this year's international season has been a great learning curve for me. Competing against the best in the world over the last month has taught me a lot about competition strategy and what I am capable of."
Teammate Nicole Parks finished in 19th while Sam Hall, 19th, and David Graham, 24th, finished the men's event behind Canadians Alexandre Bilodeau and Mikael Kingsbury with Japan's Nobuyuki Nishi in third.
Skiing in the FIS dual moguls World Championship as clearly the youngest athlete in the finals, the petite dual AIS/NSWIS scholarship holder may well have signalled to the world and the huge crowd on the Deer Valley Mountain in Utah, that her unquestionable talent will soon be richly rewarded at an international level.
Cox finished behind Canadian Jennifer Heil, who added today's gold medal to the individual moguls World Championship title from three days ago. Compatriot Chloe Dufour-Lapointe picked up silver and American Hannah Kearney took home the bronze.
While Cox's 12th place is still a long way from emulating the feats of her heroes - Alisa Camplin, Dale Begg-Smith and Lydia Lassila, all Australian athletes to have won Olympic gold - today was a huge step forward towards achieving that quest.
A little more than 12 months ago she recorded a 29th and 34th in individual moguls in World Cup competition on the same mountain. In the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver last year she finished in 23rd and each of the four times she has stepped out to compete on the World Cup tour this season she has shown significant signs of improvement.
In fact NSW Institute of Sport moguls head coach Peter Topalovic said that practically every coach on the mountain today, including those of the three medalists, praised today's performance by the Scott's School student who grew up on the slopes of Falls Creek.
"Britt made her mark today and just about every coach came up to me and said that they had been really impressed by her performance," Topalovic beamed.
Cox qualified for the finals in 11th place earning the right to dual against Canadian Audrey Robichaud, ranked third in the world.
Cox was neck and neck with her opponent, who is a veteran of 60 World Cup starts dating back to 2005, but was narrowly beaten in the first knock out final round. Robichaud went on to finish fifth today.
Had it not been for a slower start than she would have liked, the young gun Australian may have advanced to the quarter finals.
Cox said she found the 28-degree incline and 240-metre long Deer Valley course physically challenging, which is not surprising given her youthful age.
"Competing in Deer Valley is a real challenge that I look forward to. It is one of the toughest courses in the world and has a great atmosphere with thousands of people watching," Cox said.
"After making a mistake on the bottom section in the single moguls on Wednesday and missing the final by one place, I had extra motivation to do well in the dual moguls.
"Overall this year's international season has been a great learning curve for me. Competing against the best in the world over the last month has taught me a lot about competition strategy and what I am capable of."
Teammate Nicole Parks finished in 19th while Sam Hall, 19th, and David Graham, 24th, finished the men's event behind Canadians Alexandre Bilodeau and Mikael Kingsbury with Japan's Nobuyuki Nishi in third.
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