The Australian winter sports community gathered in Melbourne to celebrate a special moment in Australian Sport, Jakara Anthony's golden performance at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China.

Anthony became Australia's sixth Olympic Winter Champion after her barnstorming performance in Beijing, and the winter sport community joined Anthony's friends and family to celebrate the incredible achievement at a function at the Rialto in Melbourne. 

Some of Anthony’s amazing performances over the season included:

• Gold medal at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games
• 12 medals from 13 event starts, the most medals ever won by an Australian in a single season
• World Cup Overall Mogul Champion
• World Cup Dual Mogul Champion

 
On the night Anthony paid trouble to everyone involved in her journey, from her formative years to the champion winter athlete she is today, with speeches from Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA) Chairman Geoff Henke and CEO Geoff Lipshut, with Snow Australia CEO Michael Kennedy interviewing Anthony and her coach Peter McNiel.

The OWIA is very appreciative of the support from Buller Ski Lifts and the Grollo family for hosting the function at the Rialto.

IMAGES BELOW © Chris Hocking/OWIA

Olympic champion Jakara Anthony has finished the season in the best possible way, with a double podium weekend at the final event of the season in Megève, France, securing her first overall World Cup Crystal Globe as the world number one ranked mogul skier at the end the season. Anthony also secured the dual mogul Crystal Globe as the number one dual mogul skier.
 
The double podium performance makes it a remarkable 12 medals from 13 starts for Anthony, the most ever won by an Australia in a single season, and the second Australian female to win the overall mogul skiing World Cup Crystal Globe, joining Britt Cox who led the world in 2016-2017.
 
Competing in the French Alps resort of Megève, Anthony took home a pair of silver medals in single (Olympic format)  and dual mogul events and was so close on both occasions not to take home the win, with the victory on both days narrowly awarded to local skier Perrine Laffont of France.
 
“It’s an incredible way to finish off the season” said the 23-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
 
“The crowd here were incredible, and to get to ski against Perrine one of the great female athletes in our sport was really special.”
 
“This is my first time taking the big globe and this is the first time we have had a dual mogul globe, so to be able to take that out just really shows how consistent I have been able to be this season at a really high level.”
 
“It wasn’t easy, the women’s field is so high this year and everyone is just really stepping up their game, so these feel extra special.
 
Anthony finished the season in first place on the overall mogul standings with 925 points, 19 points clear of Laffont, with Japanese skier Anri Kawamura in third with 704 points. Anthony also secured the first ever Dual Mogul Crystal Globe as the number one ranked dual mogul skier at season end. 

Olympic champion Jakara Anthony has continued her great form at the first competition since the Beijing Olympic Games, recording victory in the dual mogul World Cup event overnight in Valmalenco, Italy.
 
Anthony has now won an incredible ten medals, equalling Alisa Camplin and Britt Cox as the most successful Australian wintersport athletes in a single season, with two events remaining.  
 
Competing at the Italian resort, Anthony advanced through the dual mogul rounds comfortably, to reach the gold medal dual against 2018 Olympic Champion Perrine Laffont of France.
 
With her trademark corked 720 mute grab on the top air and high level turns, Anthony forced Laffont to ski to her limit in the final, with the French skier making a number of mistakes to give Anthony the fourth World Cup gold medal of her career, with the judges giving Anthony the win with a score of 20 points to 15.
 
Rounding out the podium in third place was Olympic silver medallist Jaelin Kauf of the USA.
 
“I am so proud of how I skied” said the 23-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
 
“It’s really tough in there, so to be able to put down consistent runs at the level I know I was capable of was my goal for this weekend and I achieved that, so I couldn’t be happier.
 
Anthony will be aiming to win the first Crystal Globe World Cup title of her career at the World Cup final next weekend in Megeve, France, with a mogul event on March 18 and dual moguls on March 19.
 
Anthony could possibly win all three mogul skiing Chrystal Globes. Anthony  is ranked first in the overall mogul and dual mogul World Cup standings , and is in third place in the single mogul  discipline.
 
“I am so excited to go to Megeve, we have just skied in the Alps in Italy, and now we are heading back to the French Alps, it’s a really spectacular part of the world that I haven’t seen much before, so I am just so excited to go experience the mountains and ski some moguls.”

For the first time since 2010, Australia has returned to the top of the medal dais at the Winter Olympics with Jakara Anthony taking gold in the women's moguls.

The 23-year-old, who finished 4th in her Olympic debut four years ago, totally dominated the whole event, and claimed the gold medal with a score of 83.09, a staggering 2.81 points ahead of the second placed Jaelin Kauf of the USA.

In claiming the gold medal, it becomes the first time in Winter Olympic history that Australia has claimed multiple medals on the same day, following Tess Coady's bronze medal in the snowboard slopestyle earlier in the day.

It was an incredibly calm performance from the Australian, who controlled the contest from start to finish, leading after every qualification round, with every score in the 80's.

Anthony is the first Australian to claim a gold medal at the Winter Olympics since Lydia Lassila in the aerials in 2010. Lassila was on hand in Beijing working for Channel 7 to witness Anthony's golden performance and welcomed her to the elite club of six Australians who have won Winter Olympic gold.

"It's just incredible, the hard work does pay off!" a jubilant Jakara said after her golden run.

"It's been a dream of mine my whole life to be an Olympic champion, actually I don't think I've ever stopped dreaming about it."

And while Australian fans were on the edge of their seats as the Super Final got underway, underneath that Australian unfirm was a picture of calmness and control.

"I pay zero attention to what the other scores are, in fact, I don't even know what my score was, all I saw was the number one after my name!"

Jakara was quick to pay tribute to her fellow teammates and her support crew for keeping her calm and focused in the lead up to the Games, and then throughout competition.

"It's a testament to myself and the work of the team around me. Not only does it make me a better athlete, but a better person as well."

Earlier, Britt Cox and Sophie Ash were unable to advance to the final 12, finishing 14th and 16th respectively with scores of 73.04 and 70.47.

For Cox, it ended her 4th Olympic campaign, having made her debut as a 15-year-old in Vancouver in 2010.

The self-confessed ‘mother hen‘ of the Australian team was philosophical after her run in the final 20.

"To be honest, I didn't feel it was my best run of the night. I feel like my final training run just before that one was my best run that I did all night, and for that I'm actually really proud," Britt said.

And Cox was circumspect as to whether she'll stay in the sport after an already glittering career.

"I don't know. I said to myself, 'I'm not going to make any decisions until after the event here', and I guess that time has come, so I have a little bit of thinking to do.

"At the moment, my passion for the sport couldn't be stronger and I just have so much fire in the belly still and love the sport. It's just a matter of how much more my body can keep going," Britt said.

While Sophie Ash enjoyed every moment of her first Olympic Games.

"Everyone is just putting down quality at every run," Sophie said.

"I'm really happy to have made the last 20, it was an awesome experience and I wanted to see how far I could go.

"There's always stuff to improve on and that's my job now.

olympics.com.au
Damian Kelly

Cooper Woods has announced his arrival as a top international mogul skier with an incredible 6th place finish in freezing and blustery conditions at the Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park.

The 21-year-old, who hails from Pambula Beach on the NSW South Coast, scored a highly impressive 78.88 in a red-hot men's final, with Sweden's Walter Wallberg upsetting pre-event favourite Canadian Mikael Kingsbury to take gold with a score of 83.23.

Cooper produced his best score of the night at the end in the super final, after working his way up through last chance qualifying, the final 20, the final 12 and eventually the final six in the cutthroat format.

In making the final six, Cooper joined Dale Begg-Smith (2006 & 2010) and Matt Graham (2018) as the only Australian men to make the a moguls super final.

"Oh wow, what a night," a jubilant Cooper said following his final run.

"It was a star-struck moment at the start of the super final actually.

"This is what I've been working towards, and I just stuck to the plan and look what happened.

"I'm really proud of what I did out there, I'm just so happy."

Cooper's teammate Brodie Summers also put in outstanding performances to finish 10th, which marked the first time two Australians had reached the 12-man final together.

The top-10 achieve for Brodie, a triple Olympian, was his best finish in Olympic competition which beats a 13th place at Sochi in 2014.

Earlier in the evening, 2018 silver medallist Matt Graham was unable to advance to the final 20 after a challenging second run, which followed his DNF in the opening qualifying round.

Matt showed enormous courage just to make the start line in Beijing, having fractured his collarbone in December 2021. 

In an emotional state post-competition, Matt refused to blame the injury on his performance.

"I don't think it stopped my performance. I just wish I could have done better," Matt said while fighting back tears.

"It's so tough to describe how I'm feeling, but this hurts more than the collarbone.

"I know I put pressure on myself after not finishing on Thursday, but I felt I was handling it really well, I just know I had so much more to give."

James Matheson was able to improve on his opening round performance with a score of 73.20, however the score was not enough to see him move through to the last 20.

A two-time Olympian, James announced his retirement from the sport following the competition and mentioned that father time has caught up with him.

"It's a young man and young lady's sport, the body just can't keep going," James said.

He will leave the sport knowing the future is incredibly bright.

"Moguls is an individual sport, but we are an incredible close-knit team. I get to watch people I regard as family keep competing, which is pretty good."

Geoff Lipshut, Chef De Mission of the Beijing 2022 Australian Winter Olympic Team, paid tribute to James' career and character.

"James is a model high performance athlete and student. He successfully balanced sport and studies and proudly represented his country at two Olympic Games," Mr Lipshut said.

"James has always been the nicest of nice guys in the mogul program and the best of teammates."

In an emotional night for Australia's moguls team, Taylah O'Neill also announced her retirement after a knee injury curtailed her capacity to compete in Beijing.

Mr Lipshut acknowledged the contribution the 27-year-old has made to Australian mogul skiing.

"Taylah is a credit to herself and sport. After skiing at the 2014 Games, Taylah had a run of injuries which saw her miss 2018, and another difficult injury journey to 2022.

"Taylah had always been a great teammate and contributor on and off the snow."

The attention now turns to the Jakara Anthony, Britt Cox and Sophie Ash in the women's moguls on Sunday. Sophie will hope to use qualifying at 9pm AEDT to join Jakara and Britt in the final from 10:30pm AEDT.

olympics.com.au
Damian Kelly

 Jakara Anthony has finished the first women's moguls qualifying round on top, with a strong 2.64 points buffer on the rest of the field, marking the first time in Olympics history an Aussie woman has led a moguls qualifying round.

The 23-year-old put down a faultless run to post an intimidating score of 83.75, more than 2.5 points clear of the defending Olympic champion Perrine Laffont of France.

Jakara, competing at her second Olympics, sent an ominous warning to her rivals declaring there was room for improvement ahead of Sunday's final.

"I was pretty excited for that run, stoked actually," she declared.

"Some improvement ahead for sure, got some training to do and then get ready for Sunday.

A familiar name joins Jakara on a one-way ticket to the final. Britt Cox, a four-time Olympian and self-confessed ‘mother hen' of the Australian moguls team, qualified ninth which advances two Aussie women from the one Olympic qualifying session for the first time.

Britt was satisfied that everything went to plan.

"[That was] a stock standard run that I executed well and I am happy to go through with lots to improve on in training," Britt said.

With Jakara agonisingly finishing fourth in this event at PyeongChang 2018 and Britt positing fifth placings at the last two Olympics, both know a medal is well within their grasp come Sunday.

In moguls qualifying, the top 10 competitors advance directly to the finals. The remaining competitors who started are given another chance on Sunday to make the final 20, before the competition is culled to 12, and then six competitors will fight for the medals.

Sophie Ash finished in 13th place on her Olympic debut and the 25-year-old will compete again in Sunday's qualifying.

It was heartbreak for Taylah O'Neill, who did start but was unable to complete the run due to an ACL injury.

Damian Kelly
https://www.olympics.com.au

Jakara Anthony has wrapped up her Olympic qualification with a silver medal at the World Cup event in Deer Valley, USA, her eighth medal of the season.
 
Anthony made a great start to the day on the Champion ski run, winning the qualification round and then advancing to the super final in fourth place. In the super final, Anthony put down another great run to score 80.38 points to land on the podium in second place.
 
Taking the win was Japanese skier Anri Kawamura with a score of 80.89, with 2018 Olympic Champion Perrine Laffont of France rounding out the podium in third with 80.02 points.
 
Anthony is currently ranked third in the women’s moguls World Cup standings, and first in the overall mogul World Cup standings, which also includes results from the dual mogul discipline.
 
“I am really happy with how this event has gone, I really progressed in certain aspects of my skiing and jumping in my four days here and I couldn’t have asked for much more” said the 23-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
 
“It’s been a big month so far with four competition starts in two weeks, which is quite a lot for us, but you have to just keep focusing on what’s next and take it one day at a time.”
 
“The women’s mogul field is so exciting to watch this season, there are so many strong skiers and the women’s jumping has gone through the roof. I just love watching and I think it’s so exiting for the sport, and I can’t wait to see what everyone brings for the rest of the season.”
 
“We are now off to Ruka, Finland, for our pre-Olympic camp, so I will be looking to fine tune bits and pieces of my run there and getting everything dialled in.”
 
In the men’s event, Brodie Summers made it through to his first super-final of the season, finishing in sixth place.  
 
Also competing in the top-16 finals were Cooper Woods in 11th and Britt Cox in 12th.

Australia has recorded two top-5 performances at the mogul skiing World Cup in Deer Valley, USA, with Jakara Anthony claiming her seventh podium of the season after taking home a bronze medal and Cooper Woods recording a personal best fifth place finish.
 
Anthony was in great form on the Champion ski run, winning the qualification round and then qualifying for the super final in first place. In the super final, Anthony lost some points with her top air ski out but recovered well to post a score of 79.84 points to win bronze.
 
Taking the win was 2018 Olympic Champion Perrine Laffont of France with 80.30, with Japanese skier Anri Kawamura in second with 80.03. Despite Anthony’s deductions on her ski out, her jumping points were the highest in the final.
 
“It’s always great to be back in Deer Valley and it’s so exciting that we have a double event here so we can come back and do it all again tomorrow” said the 23-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
 
“I am really happy with the changes I have made to my run here, and I was stoked to get some good runs down.”
 
In the men’s event, Woods improved on his personal best ninth place finish in Canada last weekend to advance to the first top-six super final of the 21-year-old’s career.
 
Woods scored 76.10 points in the super final to finish in a personal best fifth place. 2018 Olympic Champion Mikael Kingsbury of Canada won with a score of 83.28 points, with Ikuma Horishima of Japan in second with 81.98 and another Japanese skier Kosuke Sugimoto scoring 79.02 to finish third.
 
“It was my first super final, I was pretty excited if you want to know the truth”, said Woods, who resides in Pambula Beach, NSW. 
 
“I had to take some deep breaths, go over my goals with my coach, and just had to get down the run and put a nice one down”
 
Also in action for Australia was Brodie Summers in 19th, Sophie Ash 23rd, James Matheson 24th, Britt Cox 29th and Madii Himbury in 33rd.
 
A second World Cup event will take place in Deer Valley tomorrow, which be the final mogul skiing competition before the Beijing Olympic Winter Games.

A month after snapping his collarbone in a training crash, Olympic moguls silver medallist Matt Graham has defied the odds, resuming practice just weeks away from the start of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Matt underwent surgery straight after the fall at the Idre Fjall World Cup event in Sweden, but incredibly he's back practising jumps at the Geoff Henke Winter Olympic Training Centre in Brisbane, as he aims to compete in his third Olympic Games.

On a day where Genting Snow Park, which hosts the Olympic moguls competition, hit a low of minus 19 degrees, the 2021 overall moguls World Cup champion launched off the ramps into the pool in 30 degree Brisbane heat.

While training in summer on a water ramp just 22 days before the Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony is an enormous change to the skier's normal preparation, the 27-year-old from New South Wales' Central Coast is taking on the challenge.

"It's bizarre being here in an Australian summer only 22 days out from my Olympic competition, but exciting too," Matt said. "It's super important and beneficial to be able to use this facility and there is nowhere else in the world you can do this right now."

"I got surgery four days after the injury, it put a plate there with 13 screws, it's all bolted together, strong and sturdy which is good. It's all come really good in the past seven days and today was the first day giving it it's real test.

"Today I put the shoulder through the paces, getting in the air again to regain that confidence. I went through the skills I'll perform in Beijing – I haven't been off the snow for too long, so today it was good to get the feelings and sensations back.

"I've remained really positive throughout this period. Getting there is the first challenge, and once I'm there, I want to be fit and healthy and compete at 100%. Coming off the last Olympics, winning silver was a career highlight. I'd love to go one better, for me it's about focusing on my own performance, run by run.

"I have high expectations of myself and what I want to achieve in Beijing. Having this injury, it's not ideal but it works in my favour to have all of my experience from previous Games behind me."

Matt will fly to Ruka, Finland this weekend to rejoin the Australian moguls team, for final preparations on snow before the Games.

The facility, a $6.5 million collaboration between the Australian Government through the Australian Institute of Sport, Queensland Government, AOC and Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA), opened for testing in November 2020 ahead of its official Opening in May 2021 and has already seen Australia's aerials and moguls teams hone their skills in the leadup to Beijing 2022.

Chef de Mission for the Australian Olympic Team for Beijing, Geoff Lipshut, praised Graham's tenacity.

"Matt is a champion in every sense of the word," Mr Lipshut said. "He's attacking his recovery and disrupted preparation for Beijing with the same determination and courage as he shows skiing down the moguls courses on the world's biggest stage.

"This facility is already showing its incredible value. To allow for Olympians like Matt to use Brisbane as a home base just weeks before an Olympic campaign is something only Australian athletes now have at this time of the year.

"I look forward to seeing Matt continue his recovery and getting back on the slopes soon, with the help of the fantastic Geoff Henke Olympic Training Facility in Brisbane."

A month after snapping his collarbone in a training crash, Olympic moguls silver medallist Matt Graham has defied the odds, resuming practice just weeks away from the start of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Matt underwent surgery straight after the fall at the Idre Fjall World Cup event in Sweden, but incredibly he's back practising jumps at the Geoff Henke Winter Olympic Training Centre in Brisbane, as he aims to compete in his third Olympic Games.

On a day where Genting Snow Park, which hosts the Olympic moguls competition, hit a low of minus 19 degrees, the 2021 overall moguls World Cup champion launched off the ramps into the pool in 30 degree Brisbane heat.

While training in summer on a water ramp just 22 days before the Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony is an enormous change to the skier's normal preparation, the 27-year-old from New South Wales' Central Coast is taking on the challenge.

"It's bizarre being here in an Australian summer only 22 days out from my Olympic competition, but exciting too," Matt said. "It's super important and beneficial to be able to use this facility and there is nowhere else in the world you can do this right now."

"I got surgery four days after the injury, it put a plate there with 13 screws, it's all bolted together, strong and sturdy which is good. It's all come really good in the past seven days and today was the first day giving it it's real test.

"Today I put the shoulder through the paces, getting in the air again to regain that confidence. I went through the skills I'll perform in Beijing – I haven't been off the snow for too long, so today it was good to get the feelings and sensations back.

"I've remained really positive throughout this period. Getting there is the first challenge, and once I'm there, I want to be fit and healthy and compete at 100%. Coming off the last Olympics, winning silver was a career highlight. I'd love to go one better, for me it's about focusing on my own performance, run by run.

"I have high expectations of myself and what I want to achieve in Beijing. Having this injury, it's not ideal but it works in my favour to have all of my experience from previous Games behind me."

Matt will fly to Ruka, Finland this weekend to rejoin the Australian moguls team, for final preparations on snow before the Games.

The facility, a $6.5 million collaboration between the Australian Government through the Australian Institute of Sport, Queensland Government, AOC and Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA), opened for testing in November 2020 ahead of its official Opening in May 2021 and has already seen Australia's aerials and moguls teams hone their skills in the leadup to Beijing 2022.

Chef de Mission for the Australian Olympic Team for Beijing, Geoff Lipshut, praised Graham's tenacity.

"Matt is a champion in every sense of the word," Mr Lipshut said. "He's attacking his recovery and disrupted preparation for Beijing with the same determination and courage as he shows skiing down the moguls courses on the world's biggest stage.

"This facility is already showing its incredible value. To allow for Olympians like Matt to use Brisbane as a home base just weeks before an Olympic campaign is something only Australian athletes now have at this time of the year.

"I look forward to seeing Matt continue his recovery and getting back on the slopes soon, with the help of the fantastic Geoff Henke Olympic Training Facility in Brisbane."

Jakara Anthony has claimed her sixth podium of the season, with a silver medal performance at the World Cup mogul skiing event in Tremblant, Canada.

The Canadian resort hosted two days of World Cup competition, with all OWIA and NSWIS athletes achieving a finals performance.

On day one, Anthony was the highest placed Australian finishing in fifth, with Sophie Ash in 13th and Britt Cox 17th.

In the men's day one event, Cooper-Woods had a personal best World Cup finish in ninth place, with Brodie Summers (21st),  James Matheson (27th) missing out on finals.
 
Anthony came out strongly on day two, performing well in the qualification and first round of finals, to advance to the super final in fourth place.
 
In the super final Anthony had another great run scoring 79.02 points from the judges to finish 3.53 points behind 2018 Olympic Champion Perrine Laffont of France. Rounding out the podium in third place was Anri Kawamura of Japan with a score of 78.78.
 
“The course here in Tremblant was really fun today, it’s really developed over the four days we have been skiing on it, and very different to the previous course in Alpe d’Huez in France” said the 23-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
 
“It’s a busy few weeks for us with back-to-back double single mogul events in two different locations here in Tremblant and next week in Deer Valley, which everyone is excited for. It’s always a favourite event for the Australian team and the whole World Cup tour, so I look forward to getting back on the Champion run at Deer Valley.”

The podium performance sees Anthony ranked second on the World Cup standings with 365 points, just four behind Kawamura with 369 points, and 15 ahead of Laffont on 350 points. Brodie Summers is the highest ranked Australian male in tenth.
 
Joining Anthony in the women’s final on day two was Britt Cox in 13th with Brodie Summers and James Matheson reaching the men’s final, finishing in 13th and 16th place respectively. Cooper Woods finished in 26th place.
 
The mogul skiing athletes will now head to Deer Valley, USA, for the final World Cup events before the Beijing Olympic Winter Games.

Jakara Anthony has continued her amazing start to the season winning double World Cup gold in Alpe d'Huez, France.
 
Fresh from Friday’s victory in the single moguls, Anthony was dominant throughout the duals to claim her first dual moguls World Cup gold medal. The win also extends her lead in the World Rankings, with Anthony to remain in the yellow leaders bib going into the next World Cup event in Canada in January.
 
In the gold medal dual Anthony faced off against Russian Anastasiia Smirnova. With 35 points from the judges up for grabs, Anthony took the win by just one point with a score of 18 to 17 with Anthony’s superior jumps and turns getting her the victory.
 
“There were a lot of tight duals today, and I am just out there skiing my run and hoping that puts me through every round” said the 23-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
 
“It’s very exciting to have the yellow bib, this is the first season I have managed to get hold of it, so I am excited to be heading into the next World Cup’s with it.”
 
Teammate Britt Cox registered another solid performance in ninth place.
 
The mogul skiing and snowboard cross athletes will now have a break before their World Cup tours resume in January.

Jakara Anthony has continued her amazing start to the season, winning the second World Cup mogul skiing gold medal of her career overnight in Alpe d'Huez, France.
 
Anthony has now podiumed in all four events to start the season, extending her lead as number one on the World Cup rankings.
 
In a dominant display, Anthony placed first in all three stages of the event, scoring a massive 85.07 points in the super final to finish over eight points ahead of second place finisher Anri Kawamura of Japan with a score of 77.21 points, with American Tess Johnson taking home the bronze medal with 76.63 points.
 
Australian teammate, 2017 World Champion Britt Cox also reached the super final, finishing in a season’s best fourth place, with a score of 76.20, just missing the podium by .44 points.
 
“It was so incredible, my first win of the season, my second win ever, and the first time I have every placed first in every round of the event,” said the 23-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
 
“I am so keen to get back on the course tomorrow, it’s so much fun, the moguls require such technical skiing and it’s just so great to get out there and ski it every day.”
 
Brodie Summers also had an impressive performance, narrowly missing the men’s super-final in seventh place.
 
The mogul skiing athletes will be back in action tomorrow night competing in the dual mogul event in Alpe d'Huez.

Jakara Anthony has made it three straight podiums to start the World Cup season, with a bronze medal overnight in the dual moguls in Idre Fjäll, Sweden.
 
The podium result is the sixth by Australia over the weekend, with a gold and silver medal to Danielle Scott and Laura Peel in the aerials, Belle Brockhoff silver in snowboard cross, silver to Bree Walker in monobob and two bronze medals for Anthony. A personal best was also achieved by Australia in the two-woman bobsleigh, with pilot Bree Walker and brakewoman Kiara Reddingius equalling our best ever result in the sport with a seventh place performance in their first event as a team.
 
Anthony’s first dual came in the quarter-final round against Kai Owens of the USA. With judges scoring the event out of 35 points, Anthony advanced to the next round with a 20-15 advantage.
 
In the semi-final round, Anthony had a difficult match up against 2018 Olympic Gold Medallist Perrine Laffont of France, with Laffont taking the win with a score of 21-14.
 
In the dual for the bronze medal, Anthony comfortably took the win against American Olivia Giaccio with a score of 26-9 to record the 12th World Cup medal of her career.
 
“It’s incredible to go back to back at the same event, it’s been a while since I have had the opportunity to do that” said the 23-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
 
“It was really tight duals all day long in the whole women’s field, you just had to get in there and go for it in that middle section, it was pretty tricky in there, so you just had to run it.
 
Also in action for Australia was Britt Cox in 14th, Sophie Ash 19th, James Matheson 23rd, Taylah O’Neill 29th, Cooper Woods, 28th, Madii Himbury 34th and Brodie Summers 41st.
 
The dual moguls format sees competitors face off side by side on parallel mogul runs, with the winner progressing to the next round.
 
The mogul skiing athletes will now head to France for a double event in Alpe d'Huez next weekend.
 
Anthony currently sits in first place in World Cup standings for the single moguls Olympic format and will wear the yellow leaders’ bib for the first time Alpe d'Huez.

Jakara Anthony has made a great start to her Olympic campaign, taking home the silver medal at the opening FIS mogul skiing World Cup event overnight in Ruka, Finland.
 
Anthony qualified for finals in third place with a score of 74.71, and stepped it up in finals, performing her new d-spin 720 jump on the top air for the first time in competition to advance to the super final medal round with an improved score of 78.45 in second place.
 
In the top-six medal round, Anthony put down another great run to score 78.17, just 0.34 points behind event winner Olivia Giaccio of the USA, with her teammate Kai Owens rounding out the podium in third place.
 
“This is my first podium in Ruka, so I am very excited about that” said the 23-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
 
“I have come very close before a couple of times, but this is the first time I have sealed the deal which is great.”
 
“There has been a lot of hard work that has gone into this last year especially, and all the years before that, and I am just spoked to see it paying off.”
 
The performance marks the tenth World Cup podium of her career (1 gold, 7 silver, 2 bronze).
 
In the men’s event, Brodie Summers and Matt Graham had a strong start to the season finishing in the top-10. In finals, Summers came just short of advancing to the medal round in seventh place, with Graham in tenth.
 
Just missing  finals for Australia were Britt Cox in 18th place, James Matheson 22nd, Cooper Woods 23rd, Taylah O’Neill 25th and Sophie Ash 27th.
 
The mogul skiing athletes will now head to Sweden for a double event at the Idre Fjäll ski resort next weekend.

IMAGES © Chris Hocking/OWIA

NSWIS mogul skier Matt Graham has become the first Australian male since the legendary Dale Begg-Smith to win a World Cup Crystal Globe title in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
 
Heading into the final event Graham had an 18 point lead in the standings, but after a number of delays due to snow and bad visibility, the event organisers were forced to cancel the competition and Graham was crowned the World Cup champion.
 
The 26-year-old from the NSW Central Coast had an outstanding season, winning three World cup medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze) and also claimed the silver medal at the Word Championships in Almaty mid last week.
 
Graham finished the season on 289 points, followed by Frenchman Benjamin Cavet on 271 points, with Ludavig Fjallstrom of Sweden in third place with 258 points.
 
“I am very excited and very happy to have earnt this, the Crystal Globe is one of those things I have always wanted competing in mogul skiing” said the 2018 Olympic silver medallist.
 
“We arrived overseas in November not even sure if events would happen, we more or less came over with the intention to train as much as we can and if we got to compete that would be a bonus.”
 
“Winning the globe would be the highlight of my season, it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster, some events didn’t necessarily go my way and I didn’t ski that great, but I managed to hang in there and get enough results and a few podiums to be on top when it counted.”
 
Graham’s teammate Brodie Summers finished the season in fifth place on the standings, the highest end of season ranking of the 27-year-olds career. Cooper Woods-Topalovic was 17th in his first full World Cup season and James Matheson was ranked 27th.

In the women's standings Jakara Anthony the highest ranked Australian female in tenth, with Britt Cox 15th and Sophie Ash 33rd.

IMAGE: Matt Graham celebrates the first Crystal Globe trophy of his career  © FIS

Australian mogul skier Matt Graham has bounced back from a disappointing result in yesterday’s World Championship single moguls to claim the silver medal in the dual moguls overnight in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
 
The 26-year-old from the NSW Central Coast performed well on the difficult course to advance through each round of the event to reach the final dual for first place against 2018 Olympic Champion Mikael Kingsbury of Canada.
 
In a very close head to head race, Graham pushed Kingsbury all the way, but had trouble landing his bottom jump and stumbled over the finish line to give Kingsbury the victory.
 
For Graham, the podium performance is the second World Championship medal of his career, having taken home silver at Deer Valley, USA, in 2019.
 
Rounding out the podium in third place was Ikuma Horishima of Japan.
 
“It felt great to get some redemption after yesterday's performance. I was very disappointed with my performance in the single mogul event, so I used that as a bit of motivation for duals” said Graham the 2018 Olympic silver medallist.
 
“The course was very challenging today. The moguls were quite firm and big, so it was easy to make mistakes, especially when you are pushing the speed to the limit. I didn't ski as well as I should have or can, but I knew my opponent was likely to be making mistakes as well, so I just had to grit my teeth through each round and make it to the finish line.”
 
The mogul skiers will remain in Almaty for the World Cup final which will take place on March 14.
 
Graham will be aiming to become the first Australian male to win the World Cup Crystal Globe title since the legendary Dale Begg-Smith in 2010.
 
“I will approach the World Cup Finals as I do every event. I am currently leading the standings for the overall title and Crystal Globe, but the point are very tight in the top four and anyone can win.”
 
Graham sits in first place on the standings with 289 points, followed by Frenchman Benjamin Cavet on 271 points, Ludavig Fjallstrom of Sweden with 258 points and Ikuma Horishima of Japan on 246 points.

NSWIS mogul skier Jakara Anthony has narrowly missed out on the second World Championship medal of her career, finishing just off the podium in fourth place in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The 22-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria had a consistent day, qualifying for finals in sixth place with a score of 74.87 points.

In the first round of finals Anthony stepped up her performance with a much faster run to improve her score to 77.59 and advance to the super final medal round in fifth. In the super final, Anthony scored 77.40 points to just miss the podium by 2 points in fourth place, her highest place finish of the season.

Two time World Championship medallist and three time Olympian Britt Cox also had her best result of the season finishing in seventh place, just out of the six-woman super final.

Olympic champion Perrine Laffont of France took the gold in the women’s event with Yuliya Galysheva of Kazakhstan finishing second with Russian Anastasiia Smirnova rounding out the podium in third place.

In the men’s event Brodie Summers and Cooper Woods-Topalovic had career best qualifying runs, placing third and fifth respectively in the first qualification round. In his World Championship debut, Woods-Topalovic was Australia’s highest place finisher in the men’s final in 15th position, with Summers one place behind in 16th, both skied the final well but each made an error landing the second jump.

Unfortunately, current world number one Matt Graham had some mistakes in his two qualification runs and was unable to advance to finals finishing in 20th place. James Matheson was also unable to qualify for finals in 34th place.

The men's gold medal went to Olympic champion Canadian Mikael Kingsbury, with Benjamin Cavet of France in second and Pavel Kolmakov of Kazakhstan in third.

The NSWIS mogul athletes will be back in action tonight in Kazakhstan, with the dual mogul World championship evet to take place.

Snow Australia will be streaming the event live, with finals starting at 8pm AEDT
https://snow.org.au/live/

IMAGE: Jakara Anthony with a back X off the bottom air in Kazakhstan © FIS

NSWIS mogul skier Matt Graham has made it three consecutive podiums with back to back medals at the World Cup event in Deer Valley, USA, claiming the silver medal in the dual moguls on day two, after bronze in the single moguls 24 hours earlier.

The result moves Graham into first place on the World Cup standings, the first time an Australian male mogul skier has had the yellow leader bib since the legendary Dale Begg-Smith in 2010.
 
The 26-year-old from the NSW Central Coast moved through the earlier rounds of the event with ease to advance to the dual for first place against 2018 Olympic Champion Mikael Kingsbury of Canada.
 
In a very close head to head race in snowy conditions, Graham just fell short with Kingsbury taking the win with a score of 20 to 15 points. Rounding out the podium in third place was Benjamin Cavet of France.
 
“Feels great to get the silver here in Deer Valley after yesterday’s bronze”, Graham said after collecting his third medal of the season.
 
“It was a tough day today, I think all the boys where a bit sore after yesterday’s event, so we really had to dig deep.
 
“It’s a great feeling to go into the last World Cup event of the season wearing the yellow leaders bib.”
 
With one World Cup competition left in the schedule, a dual mogul event in Kazakstan on March 14, Graham sits in first place on the standings with 289 points. Behind Graham in the standings is Frenchman Benjamin Cavet on 271 points, Ludavig Fjallstrom of Sweden with 258 points and Ikuma Horishima of Japan on 246 points.
 
Graham’s teammate Brodie Summers is in fifth on the standings after finishing eighth for the second time in Deer Valley, his fifth top-10 of the season.

In the women's standings, Jakara Anthony sits in eighth place, after finishing in 11th place in the dual moguls.

Other Australian results included Britt Cox in 16th, Cooper Woods-Topalovic 19th place, Sophie Ash 30th and James Matheson in 31st

The mogul team will now train in Ruka, Finland, preparing for the World Championships which will take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with single moguls on March 8 and dual moguls on March 9. The World Cup final will take place at the same location on March 14.

IMAGE: World number one's Matt Graham and Perrine Laffont of France.

Matt Graham has taken bronze in the day one Word Cup event in Deer Valley, USA, his second podium of the season.
 
The NSWIS skier from the Central Coast of NSW stepped up his run in the super final to jump the highest degree of difficulty of his World Cup career, with a back double full (double twisting back somersault) on the top jump and d-spin 1080 (triple twisting off axis somersault) on the bottom air to score 84.44 points.
 
Graham made great progress on his jumping skills in October at the new Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre Water Ramp facility located at Brisbane’s Sleeman Sports Centre.
 
Taking the win was 2018 Olympic gold medallist Mikael Kingsbury of Canada on 88.10 points, with Frenchman Benjamin Cavet in second place with a score of 86.25.
 
“Very happy to come away with a podium today” said the 2018 Olympic silver medallist.
 
“It’s been a long wait between competitions and our team have been isolated in the North of Finland at Ruka for the past two months where it’s dark twenty hours of the day. However, we have had great training in Ruka so I felt very prepared for this World Cup and was hungry to get back in the start gate.
 
“The super final was hotly contested with all the best guys in the mix. “I performed a back-double-full off the top jump. This is something I worked a lot on over the Christmas and New Year break in Finland and it is the first time I have competed this level of DD (degree of difficulty) in a World Cup. I am happy with the way it turned out, but I still have plenty of room for improvement which is nice.

It was another strong event for the male athletes with three skiers in the top-16 finals. Brodie Summers just missed the six man super final finishing in eighth place, with his NSWIS teammate Cooper Woods-Topalovic recording a PB performance in 12th position.
 
In the women’s event, 2019 World Championship medallist Jakara Anthony had her highest placing of the season so far, finishing in sixth place.

Also in action for Australia was Britt Cox in 20th, James Matheson 24th and Sophie Ash in 32nd.

A second event at Deer Valley, a dual mogul competition will take place the next day.

Australian mogul skier Matt Graham has finished the year in the best possible way, winning gold in the dual mogul FIS Word Cup event overnight in Idre Fjäll, Sweden.
 
The 2018 Olympic silver medallist had a number of impressive head to head “dual” races on the Idre course to reach the last pair of the day, before fog rolled in and forced the event to be called off due to low visibility.
 
Graham was set to dual home town Swedish skier Ludvig Fjallstrom for the gold, but with the final phase of the event unable to take place, both were awarded the win.
 
“In duals, you just have to let your hair down and go for it”, said the 26-year-old from the Central Coast in New South Wales.
 
“I had some very challenging duals today, including coming up against my teammate Brodie Summers in the first round. He skied really well this week which gave him a well deserved silver medal yesterday in the single moguls event.”
 
“My tactics today was to push hard out of the gate and go as big as possible on the top jump. This course is quite fast and easy compared to most World Cup courses, so you just had to land the top jump and charge the middle section as fast as possible.”
 
“The final four men were all pretty relaxed and chilled at the top of the course waiting for the fog to hopefully clear. I was just remaining activated and ready to go, because we would not have gotten much warning if the fog cleared.”
 
“It would have been fun to be able to finish the event and see how things would have turned out, but you can't control the weather. I was happy to share the top step of the podium with Ludvig. It is his first World Cup win, and he is a good mate of mine as we have been competing on the World Cup tour together for 10 years now.”
 
For Graham, the result marks the 16th major medal of his career (3 gold, 6 silver, 7 bronze) and his first World Cup win since January 2017.
 
After three events, Graham now sits in third place on the World Cup standings, with teammate Brodie Summers in fifth.
 
The mogul skiing athletes will now return to Ruka, Finland, site of the first World Cup event of the season as their training base before competition resumes in late January.

Australian mogul skier Brodie Summers has continued his strong start to the season, claiming a silver medal overnight in Idre Fjäll, Sweden.
 
The 27-year-old from Brighton in Melbourne qualified for finals in 11th place, and put in an impressive first run in finals scoring 80.77 points to advance to the super final medal round in fourth place.
 
In the super final, Summers increased his score to 81.84 to finish in the silver medal position, 1.87 points behind event winner Benjamin Cavet of France. Rounding out the podium in third place was American Nick Page.
 
“It feels incredible to be back on the podium again”, Summers commented after the race.
 
“There was plenty of great skiing out there today so to do it amongst the world’s best is a phenomenal feeling.”
 
“I changed lines in the course this morning and it really paid off. The new line accentuated my skiing and I felt really comfortable in it, so I was able to consistently put good runs down all day long.
 
“My coaches and I also decided to stick with my baseline air package instead of upping the degree of difficulty. This meant I could channel the focus to quality and execution, which ultimately translated into better skiing and jumping.”
 
“I’m really happy with how I’ve started this season. The main thing is that my skiing and jumping feels like it’s returning to the level that it was at prior to injuring myself pre-Olympics.
 
“I’m really grateful to have such a supportive team around me and together we are all building our capacity to perform well on the global stage.”
 
The performance marks the third World Cup medal of his career (2 silver, 1 bronze), and first podium since February 2017 and injury suffered before the 2018 Olympic Games in Korea.
 
In the men’s World Cup standings, Summers sits in second place with 120 points after two competitions, with Horishima leading the way with 140 points while Cavet follows behind Summers in third place on 118 points.
 
It was a successful day for the Australian program with all athletes reaching the top-16 finals stage. Joining Summers in the final in the men’s event was Matt Graham in 11th, Cooper Woods-Topalovic 15th, James Matheson 16th and in the women’s event Jakara Anthony 8th and Britt Cox 15th.
 
The action in Idre Fjäll continues tomorrow, with the first dual moguls event of the season scheduled.

The OWIA Mogul Program has made a strong start to the 2020-2021 World Cup season, with four athletes finishing in the top eleven in Ruka, Finland.
 
In the men’s event, NSWIS athletes Matt Graham and Brodie Summers had impressive runs in the qualifying run and first round of finals to reach the top six super final.
 
In the super final medal round, both athletes had some mistakes and were not able to replicate their earlier scores, with Graham finishing in fifth place and Summers in sixth.
 
“Unfortunately, we didn’t come away with a medal in Ruka, but it was good to see Matt and Brodie start the season well with good performances in the first two rounds of the event”, commented OWIA Mogul Skiing Head Coach Steve Desovich after the competition.
 
In the women’s event, Jakara Anthony and Britt Cox also had strong qualifying performances, with both skiers advancing to finals in fourth and fifth places respectively. In the first round of finals, Anthony missed out by the small margin of 0.32 on making it through to the top six super final, finishing in ninth place. Cox finished in 11th position in her first event back in nearly 12 months.
 
Others Australian’s in action included NSWIS athletes James Matheson in 18th, Sophie Ash 20th and Cooper Woods-Topalovic in 48th.
 
The World Cup tour now heads to the Swedish ski resort of Idre Fjäll, for a single moguls event on December 12 and dual moguls on December 13.

The Mogul Skiing Program completed a training camp at the Snow Australia water ramp facility in Victoria’s Yarra Ranges throughout May, June and into July, before travelling to Jindabyne, NSW, for on snow training at Perisher.
 
Training initially took place on Mogul Matt’s run and the World Cup specification Toppa’s Dream course through to mid September.
 
The team then headed to the Henke Centre Water Jump in Brisbane, making the most of the great new facility for the month of October.
 
Currently, the team is in Ruka, Finland, preparing for the opening World Cup of the season this weekend, with Jakara Anthony, Sophie Ash, Britt Cox, Matt Graham, James Matheson, Brodie Summers and Cooper Woods-Topalovic all competing for Australia.

The following week, a mogul and dual mogul World Cup is scheduled to take place in Idre Fjäll, Sweden, on December 12-13

Jakara Anthony has taken the silver medal at the FIS World Cup dual moguls event in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, her second straight dual mogul medal. 
 
For Anthony, the podium result is her fourth medal of the season and she is ranked second on the World Cup standings with two events remaining.

The 21 year old from Barwon Heads performed exceptionally well in the cold Siberian conditions, defeating world number three Jaelene Kauf of the USA in the semi final round, to advance to the final against current Olympic Champion and world number one, Perrine Laffont of France.
 
Laffont took the gold scoring 82.68 to finish ahead of Anthony in the silver medal position with a score of 74.93. Rounding out the podium with the bronze medal was American Jaelin Kauf.
 
“It was incredible to claim another World Cup silver medal tonight in Russia” Anthony commented after the race.
 
“It was the coldest weather we’ve had all season so that definitely made it challenging, but the course was in good shape and I was able to make some good progress in some areas I've been struggling with.
  
The mogul skiers will now head to Idre Fjall, Sweden,  for the final event of the season, with a single and dual moguls competition taking place ​on March 13-15,

Jakara Anthony has achieved the best dual mogul performance of her career, claiming silver in the FIS World Cup event in Shymbulak, Kazakhstan.
 
The 21 year old from Barwon Heads in Victoria defeated Viktoriia Lazarenko from Russia in the first round, and then Japanese skiers Anri Kawamura in the quarter final, and Kisara Sumyoshi in the semi final to advance to the gold medal round.
 
In the final, Anthony was up against Jaelin Kauf of the USA, with the American taking the win 81.22 points to 58.76. Rounding out the podium in third place was world number one and 2018 Olympic Champion Perrine Laffont of France.
 
“It was really fun out there today, the course was in the best shape it’s been in the last few days ”, Anthony commented after the race.
 
“I was just so excited to get out there and push it every run and improve every run.”
 
“I am doing really well, even though its late in the season I am still making some changes in my run, and still improving things, and I am really looking forward to the final events in Russia and Sweden in the next few weeks.”
 
This result is Anthony’s eighth World Cup medal of her career (1 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze), and her second medal in the dual mogul discipline.
 
With three events remaining on the FIS World Cup tour, Anthony remains in second place on the standings with 484 points, with Laffont now in an unbeatable position in first place with 796 points.
 
The mogul skiing athletes will now head to Siberia, for a dual mogul event in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, on March 7th.