Australian mogul skier Jakara Anthony has continued her unstoppable start to the 2023-2024 FIS World Cup season, recording her sixth victory overnight in the final event of the calendar year in Bakuriani, Georgia.

Anthony’s start to the season is by far the best by any Australian wintersports athlete, winning a medal in all seven events this season, which includes six victories and a bronze medal.

The 2022 Olympic Champion has now has 14 career World Cup gold medals, moving her closer to legendary Australian mogul skier Dale Begg-Smith’s 18 career victories.

Anthony moved through the dual mogul rounds with ease, with her closest race coming in the semi-final stage against American Jaelin, Kauf. Earlier in the season Kauf had denied Anthony a win in the dual mogul event in Idre Fjall, Sweden, but this time Anthony advanced to the gold medal dual matchup with a score of 20 points to 15.

In the big final, Anthony easily won against Canadian Maia Schwinghammer with a score of 35-0, after Schwinghammer crashed out after the top air.

“It was an awesome day out here for duals, and to go on the podium with Jaelin and Maia,” said the 25-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.

“Jaelin is renowned for her speed, so to finally get one on her on that, and to see Maia get her first podium was awesome to be a part of.”

In the men’s event, 2022 Olympian Cooper Woods finished in seventh, his best dual mogul result of the season to date, losing his dual against eventual event winner Mikael Kingsbury of Canada, 14 points to 21.

The mogul skiing World Cup tour is on break until the third week of January, with the first event of 2024 scheduled to take place in Val St. Come, Canada, on January 19 and 20.

Jakara Anthony made it a double gold medal celebration in Alpe d’Huez, winning her first dual mogul event of the season, the 12th World Cup victory of her impressive career.

Anthony cruised through the early rounds of the event to set up a semi-final matchup against Tess Johnson of the USA. Anthony won convincingly with a score of 31-4 to advance to the big-final.

In the big final, Anthony faced another American, Olivia Giaccio, and in a much closer dual Anthony prevailed with a score of 20-15.

“It’s super exciting to go back-to-back at this event again, I did it a couple of years ago, but missed the first place in the duals last year, so to get a little redemption is nice” said the NSWIS skier.

In the men’s event Cooper Woods finished in 15th, Oliver Logan 44th and George Murphy 46th.

Anthony and Woods will now compete in the final World Cup of the year at Bakuriani, Georgia, in single and dual mogul competitions on December 22 and 23.

NSWIS mogul skier Jakara Anthony has continued her incredible start to the 2023-2024 FIS World Cup season, with a third consecutive victory in the single mogul event, recording the 11th win of her career in Alpe d’Huez, France.

The 2022 Olympic champion was very impressive, leading from start to finish and moving through all three rounds of the competition in first place, matching the feat from the previous two World Cup events this season.

In the events three year history at Alpe d’Huez, Anthony has never lost in the single moguls event at the iconic French Alps resort, which is also world famous for its gruelling mountain climb stage in the Tour de France.

Anthony scored 79.98 points In the super-final medal round to finish 4.34 points of second place finished Jaelen Kauf of the USA on 75.64 points with her American teammate Olivia Giaccio in third with a score of 74.82.

“Can’t ask for much more than that, leading from round-to-round again, so always nice to be rewarded for that,“ said the 25-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.

“I was pretty nervous out there today, so I am pretty happy just to put down three solid runs, get through each round, and have another crack at doing what I am out here today.”

In the men’s event Cooper Woods made hist first top-six super final of the season, laying it all on the line but unfortunately skiing out of the course and around a control gate to record a did not finish, giving him a final ranking of sixth place. George Murphy was 22nd in qualifying with Oliver Logan recording a did not finish.

The first World Cup dual mogul event of the season took place in Idre Fjall, with Jakara Anthony taking home yet another medal, this time a bronze in the duals.

The NSWIS skier moved through the rounds of 32, 16 and 8 with ease to advance through to the semi-final round against Jaelin Kauf of the USA.

In a hotly contested matchup, Anthony was narrowly defeated with a score of 15-20 in the American's favour, leaving Anthony to duel in the final round for third place.

In the small final, Anthony easily recorded her third medal of the season, out duelling Hinako Tomitaka of Japan 29-6.
Kauf went on to take the win, defeating Japanese skier Rino Yanagimoto with a score of 26 points to 9.

Cooper Woods was again the highest place NSWIS male skier finishing in 17th, with teammates George Murphy 40th and Oliver Logan 44th.

The mogul team now heads to Alpe d'Huez France, for the next round of World Cup competition on December 15-16.

Jakara Anthony has started the 2023-2024 FIS World Cup season in incredible form, winning consecutive events within six days after recording the tenth World Cup victory of her career in Idre Fjäll, Sweden.

The NSWIS skier was dominant, leading from start to finish, again moving through all three rounds of the competition in first place, replicating the effort from the opening event in Ruka, Finland.

In the super-final medal round, Anthony put down a commanding run to score 79.74 points, finishing a huge 7.32 points higher than second place finisher Rino Yanagimoto of Japan on 72.42, with American Olivia Giaccio in third with 72.16.

“It’s a pretty cool way to kick off the season, winning the first event and then backing up here“ said the 25-year-old Olympic champion from Barwon Heads in Victoria.

“We have another five starts before Christmas, so looking to keep carrying that momentum moving forward.”

“It’s going to be exciting with dual moguls coming up tomorrow, speed will be important in there, it’s easy to get stuck in the face of the bumps and slow down. I think it’s always important for duals to be fast but always good execution as well so I will go out and do my best.”

In the men’s event, NSWIS skier Cooper Woods made it through to finals for the second week in a row, finishing in ninth place, with his teammate Oliver Logan achieving a personal best result of 33rd but George Murphy unfortunately recorded a did not finish.

It has been an incredible start to the 2023-2024 northern hemisphere winter for Australia with a gold medal overnight to mogul skier Jakara Anthony in Ruka, Finland, and a silver medal in the big air in Beijing, China, for snowboarder Tess Coady.

It was the opening event of the season for the 2022 Olympic medallists, with Anthony winning for the second consecutive time to start the season in Ruka and for Coady the second place finish was the best big air result of her World Cup career.

Anthony put in a commanding performance, winning every stage of the mogul competition to record the ninth World Cup victory of her career.

In the super-final medal round, Anthony put down a flawless run to score 84.18 points, with a large victory margin of 4.5 points over second place finisher Elizabeth Lemley of the USA who scored 79.68 and fellow American Olivia Giaccio with 76.35 points.

“It’s been really awesome to go back-to-back last year and this year here in Ruka and really proud of the way I was able to ski out there and have a lot fun whilst I was doing it,“ said the 25-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.

“It’s been a little different this year, we are missing Perrine Laffont and Anri, those girls I am usually mixing it up with, but still such a strong field in the women’s and it’s exciting to see everyone out there and pushing it.”

“We are definitely looking forward to hanging onto this (the yellow lead bib),but we will see what comes, I just want to
go out there and have a crack and give it my best.”

In the men’s event dual 2023 World Championship medallist Matt Graham was unlucky not to make the super-final, missing out by one place in seventh. Also in the final was Cooper Woods in 16th, with Oliver Logan in 31st in his World Cup debut and George Murphy 38th.

The mogul skiing athletes will now head to the Swedish resort of Idre Fjäll for a double event next weekend on December 8-9.