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.

The first event for the FIS Freestyle World Cup season takes place this weekend in Ruka, Finland, with the Australian Aerial and Mogul skiing teams based at the Finish resort for a number of weeks, training on the World Cup courses in the lead in to the first event.

First up will be the Mogul World Cup on Saturday December 2, with Olympic gold medallist and 2023 World Cup single moguls champion Jakara Anthony looking to replicate her win at Ruka 12-months-ago. 2023 dual World Championship medallist Matt Graham will be competing for the first time since end of season shoulder surgery which impacted his Australian winter, and has worked extremely hard to make it to the start line for the opening event.

Also in action will be Olympic finalist Cooper Woods, Jackson Harvey, George Murphy and making his debut will be 19-year-old Oliver Logan.

"Ruka has been good so far. I am still getting my legs back a bit after my disrupted off-season due to multiple shoulder surgeries," said Graham the 2018 Olympic silver medallist.

"I am pretty confident with how I am skiing and jumping, and I believe I am in a good position to have a good performance this weekend."

"I am excited to get the season underway and see what I am capable of considering how little I have been able to train this year."

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Snow Australia’s Emerging Talent Program (ETP) Moguls athletes and the NSWIS Moguls Team are jumping to new heights at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre at Sleeman Sports Complex in Brisbane this week.

Under the guidance of ETP Moguls Head Coach Ethan Topalovic and NSWIS Moguls Head Coach Kate Blamey, the up-and-coming mogul skiers are in camp practicing their jumps on the water ramps, learning about strength, recovery and nutrition, and attending workshops to gain a better understanding of what it takes to excel in their chosen sport.
On Thursday afternoon, the athletes had the chance to sit down with moguls Olympic medallists Jakara Anthony and Matt Graham.

In an intimate Q&A session with the multiple World Cup and World Championship medallists, the young athletes relished the opportunity to soak up knowledge on pre-competition preparation strategies, how to move new tricks from the water to snow, how to handle pressure and expectations and how to stay motivated.

"It was super cool to chat to Jakara and Matt today and get an insight into their whole mogul skiing journey,” said NSWIS skier Charlotte WIlson. “It's good to know what we can work on so early on in our journey to ultimately be just like the two of them. 

"Something they said which stuck with me was to just take every opportunity as it comes. We have so many amazing opportunities and so many training camps so making sure that we get the most out of those opportunities is really important.

"We do cross over with the World Cup group a lot so it's really amazing to see them train. Seeing their camaraderie in the gym is nice and helps us to push ourselves and set goals like they do. You know, we want to lift as much as Jakara and be as strong as Matt so we can do all the tricks they do on water. I really admire them, how hard they work and all the steps they've taken to get where they are today.

"It's really just motivated me to work even harder, seeing where they are, and knowing maybe I could be there too."

Olympic silver medallist Matt Graham said he wanted to remind the younger athletes to make the most of every opportunity, especially having access to these new state-of-the-art facilities, and to never stop having fun.

“The key themes from my perspective is to make the most of every opportunity, make sure you’re enjoying yourself, and enjoying the sport, the people around you and having fun,” Graham said.

“I hope these opportunities can help inspire this next generation to give it their all and enjoy all the experiences they’re lucky enough to have. 

“This facility wasn't here when I was growing up and it’s pretty nice for these guys to come up here… and it’s pretty unique in our sport to train alongside the world’s best, whether it’s here at the Jumps or at Perisher on Toppa’s Dream, it’s very unique.”

Beijing 2022 Olympic Champion Anthony said it’s great to chat with the next generation, and while she loves sharing what’s helped in her career, her biggest advice was to get out there and learn through personal experience.

“There’s all sorts of things I wish I knew when I was their age, but I think a lot of that you can only learn through experiences or through meeting certain people in your career,” she said.

“Hopefully they've got some good people that they meet along the way and that can give them that advice and they take it on board. It’s up to you as well to make what you do with what people tell you.

“There’s no point doing it if you're not having fun, and getting to hang out with a pretty cool crew, so I’m sure they’re having the time of their life.”

ETP Moguls Head Coach Topalovic said it’s been satisfying to witness the progress of his group of 13-17 year olds over the past few days in Brisbane.

“I think it's super rewarding to watch these athletes grow at a pretty fast rate compared to what you would get at the high performance end,” he said.

“Watching these athletes at a grassroot level change their skiing overnight, is incredible.

“It's awesome to see them learn and grow not just as athletes, but as humans. With these athletes that I’m coaching right now, all I want to do is help them achieve their goals, whether that be to ski and have fun with my friends, or whether they want to be an Olympic champion.

“Whatever their goal is, my goal is to help them achieve that in any way I can. Touching on your goals; you're part of their program.”

The ETP Athletes wrap up their Water Jump camp this week, with plans to travel to Winter Park, Colorado in early 2024 for an on-snow training camp. The NSWIS team return to Brisbane for another camp in early November before their on-snow season starts in Colorado in late November.

Article Courtesy of Snow Australia

Matt Graham has finished the season in style, with back-to-back bronze medal performances at the mogul skiing World Cup final in Almaty, Kazakhstan, this time in the dual moguls event.
 
The podium result is Graham’s fifth of the season in World Cup events and combined with his spectacular double medal performance at the recent World Championships, a super successful season for the 28-year-old from the NSW Central Coast.
 
Graham started the day in great form with victories in the round-of-16 over Benjamin Cavet of France, and in the quarterfinals over Canadian Elliot Vaillancourt, with both runs scored in Graham’s favour 21 points to 14.
 
In the semi-final, Graham was up against the legendary Mikael Kingsbury of Canada. Graham put up a strong performance, but went down in a score of 21 to 14 in Kingsbury’s favour.
 
Graham then faced Japanese skier Ikuma Horishima in the dual for third place, with Graham taking the bronze medal 22 to 13.
 
Kingsbury took the win in the final against Walter Wallberg of Sweden with a score of 22-13, with the silver medal giving Wallberg enough points to just edge Matt Graham for third place in the overall standings, which incorporates results from both disciplines.
 
Graham has finished the season standings ranked second in moguls, fifth in dual moguls and fourth in the overall moguls.
 
“Today is a little bittersweet, losing the overall third place on the standings to Walter, but to his credit, he had an amazing season as well,” said the 2018 Olympic silver medallist.
 
“I am really happy with where I am skiing right now and still really enjoying the sport, so looking forward to coming back next year.”
 
With the season now complete, Graham reflected on what he has achieved.  
 
“For me personally and our team Deer Valley was a big highlight, in the single moguls we had the double gold with myself and Jakara Anthony, which doesn’t happen too often for Australia, so that was super special. Also, the World Championships in Georgia, with back-to-back medals was another special occasion.”
 
“All the work I put in during the off season to come back from injury and know that I can still push it against the best guys is really exciting for me.”
 
Next up in Almaty will be the aerial skiing World Cup final, with Danielle Scotty looking to secure her first ever Crystal Globe. Scott is in first place with 382 points, leading Canadian Marion Thenault on 290, with Australian teammate Laura Peel in third on 262.

Matt Graham has finished the mogul skiing season ranked second in the world, after claiming a bronze medal overnight in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
 
After his 2022 Olympic campaign was decimated by injury, Graham has bounced back in impressive form, with four World Cup medals this season and a spectacular double medal performance at the recent World Championships.
 
2022 Olympic Champion Jakara Anthony was unable to compete at the World Cup final, but after her dominant performances earlier in the season where she won the opening four events, had an unbeatable lead in the women’s mogul standings to claim the third Crystal Globe and world number one ranking of her career.
 
In the men’s super-final, Graham put down the fastest run of the round, scoring 78.42 points to finish third, the 22nd World Cup podium of his career.
 
Taking the win was Canadian Mikael Kingsbury with 85.67 points and local Kazakhstan skier Pavel Kolmakov in second with 78.72.
 
“Coming off an injury last year to bounce back this way is really exciting for me and fuels the fire moving forward” said the 28-year-old from the NSW Central Coast.
 
The final event of the season will take place tonight in Kazakhstan, with the athletes competing in the dual moguls event, which will make its Olympic debut at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano-Cortina in Italy.
 
With the bronze medal finish, Graham has now moved into third on the overall moguls standings which incorporates both mogul disciplines and will be looking to maintain his spot on the overall podium.
 
“I am fighting for third in the overall against Walter Wallberg, so I am going to have to battle it out and try and make it through all of the rounds and hopefully come home with the bronze.”
 
“I will leave it all out on the table and give it my all, it’s the last day of the season.”
 

Mogul skier Matt Graham has claimed his second medal at the 2023 FIS World Championships, capturing the bronze medal in the dual moguls overnight in Bakuriani, Georgia, becoming just the second Australian to ever win two medals at a FIS World Championships after Dale Begg-Smith's gold and silver in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, back in 2007.
 
Graham has now collected an impressive four World Championship medals across his career and has won at least one medal at each of the past three World titles, which are held every two years.
 
After taking the silver medal in the single moguls in Georgia, Graham was full of confidence heading into the dual moguls, which will feature in the Olympic Winter Games for the first time in 2026 at Milano-Cortina, Italy.
 
Graham had victories in the round of 32 against British skier Thomas Gerken-Schofield and Kosuke Sugimoto in the round of 16 to reach the quarter final stage.
 
After defeating Nick Page of the USA in the quarter-final, Graham then faced 2022 Olympic gold medallist Walter Wallberg of Sweden in the semi-final, going down 14-21 points. .
 
In the duel for the bronze medal, Graham then defeated Pavel Kolmakov of Kazakhstan with a score of 20-15 for his second medal at the World Championships.
 
“To go back-to-back in any World Cup or World Championships is awesome, and now we have the opportunity to do it at the Olympics, in three years’ time assuming I am there – that’s what I will be chasing,” said the 28-year-old from the NSW Central Coast.
 
“It felt pretty exhausting to be honest. There are a lot of runs in duals and the intensity was so high, and it’s been a long week with three training days and two competition days. At the top I was just trying to psych myself up and get the legs firing each run and just happy to make it down and get through all the rounds and come away with a bronze medal.”
 
“Strength and conditioning off snow is so important, and now having duals at the Olympics it’s even more important to have to put runs down back-to-back on such a quick timeline, so I guess I need to get home and back in the gym.”
 
Cooper Woods had a number of impressive duels in the early rounds and was unlucky not to advance through to the quarter finals, with the judges awarding his round of 16 dual to Kolmakov 18-17, giving him a final ranking of ninth.
 
Also in action for Australia in just a second start in the World Championship were George Murphy in 14th place and Jackson Harvey in 19th.

Mogul skier Matt Graham has claimed the second medal for Australia at the 2023 FIS World Championships, with a silver medal performance overnight in Bakuriani, Georgia. Graham has now won medals at the last three World Championships, which are held every two years.
 
The 2018 Olympic silver medallist placed fifth in the first round of finals with a score of 85.60 points, and then stepped it up in the super-final with a huge score of 88.90 points together with the fastest speed in 22.49 seconds.
 
Edging out Graham to take the win by just 0.92 points in the last run of the day was the defending World Champion Canadian Mikael Kingsbury, with Walter Walberg of Sweden rounding out the podium in third with a score of 88.52 points. 
 
“It’s pretty surreal to be honest” said the 28-year-old from the NSW Central Coast.
 
“Everyone was skiing so well today and so fast. In my last run I felt like I had to find three points on top of the other guys, so I just rally planted that top air well, charged though the middle section and then was just hanging on to get off the bottom air and managed to put it to my feet.”
 
“When the score came up and it was over 88, that was awesome, I knew I had put the pressure on the top guys and managed to hold onto second place, so I am over the moon.”
 
“My expectations were to come here and enjoy the experience, and really focus on putting down clean runs that I am happy with, and the results would take care of themselves. If I put that run down and came fifth place then so be it, but fortunately enough it was good for a silver, so I am really happy.”
 
Cooper Woods was the best of the other Aussie skiers in 11th place and World Championship debutants George Murphy and Jackson Harvey were 26th and 28th.
 
Earlier in the women’s competition Olympic Champion Jakara Anthony was sixth in the qualification round but slipped to 17th after having trouble with her top jump landing.
 
The mogul skiers will be back in action tonight competing in the World Championships dual mogul event.

The Australian mogul team has taken part in the final World Cup event before the World Championships, with a dual mogul event in Chiesa in Valmalenco, Italy.

2022 Olympic champion Jakara Anthony was Australia's leading performer at the event, with the NSWIS skier reaching the quarter-final stage, narrowly losing her dual in a score of 17-18 to American Olivia Giaccio, giving her a final ranking of fifth.

Anthony's NSWIS teammates Matt Graham (17th), Cooper Woods (21st) and Jackson Harvey (24th) all exited the competition in the round of 32, with George Murphy (33rd) out in the round of 64.

With two World Cup events remaining in the season, Anthony has an unbeatable lead in the single moguls standings, is fifth in the dual moguls and second on the overall moguls rankings, just 49 points behind Perrine Laffont of France.

Matt Graham is ranked third in single moguls, fifth in duals and fourth on the overall standings.

The single mogul event at the World Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia, will take place on February 25, with dual moguls the next day on February 26.

NSWIS skier Matt Graham has carried his great form over from his win in the single moguls, with a second place finish in the dual event in Deer Valley, his third medal of the season.

Graham advanced through the rounds with ease to reach the big final against his great rival, Mikael Kingsbury of Canada. With both skiers putting it all on the line for the win, Graham unfortunately crashed out in the middle of the course, giving the win to Kingsbury with Graham having to settle for the silver.

Olympic champion Jakara Anthony reached the quarter-final stage, before narrowly being edged out by Japanese skier Rino Yanagimoto with a score of 16-19, finishing in fifth place.

Other NSWIS skiers results include Jackson Harvey in 24th, Cooper Woods 32nd and George Murphy in 45th.

The mogul skiing tour now heads to Valmalenco, Italy, for the last event before the World Championships, a dual mogul World Cup on February 11.

Australian mogul skiers Matt Graham and Jakara Anthony have recorded an incredible double gold medal performance at the World Cup event in Deer Valley, USA, becoming the second Australian pair to achieve victory on the same day.
 
For Graham, the result is even more special, as it’s his first victory in the single moguls discipline since Calgary in 2017, fittingly the last time Australia claimed victory in both events, when he did so with World Champion four-time Olympian Britt Cox.
 
Deer Valley is blue ribband World Cup event for mogul and aerial skiing. The Utah event is in its 25th edition and is held annually at the 2002 Olympic venue, “the Champion Run”.
 
Graham qualified for finals in third place, and then stepped it up in finals scoring 81.27 in the first round of finals to advance to the super-final medal round in first place.
 
In the super-final, Graham put down an incredible run to score a huge 85.35 on the steep and difficult course, to finish ahead of Mikael Kingsbury of Canada with 83.65 points with Frenchman Benjamin Cavet of France rounding out the podium with 81.82 in third.
 
“It’s a surreal feeling, I went back-to-back with Britt Cox in 2017 in Calgary, and now to get the back-to-back wins with Jakara is super special,” said the 28-year-old Olympic silver medallist from the NSW Central Coast.
 
“It was a tough long day today, the course was eating people all day, I was just happy to find my line and rip it each run.”
 
“I was having so much fun here at Deer Valley, I love this event, had my first ever win here in 2016 so it’s good to be back up here and stand on top of the podium.”
 
The victory is the fourth of Graham’s career and his 20th World Cup podium.
 
2022 Olympic Champion Anthony headed into the event with the yellow leaders bib and continued her strong form throughout the event, recording the eighth World Cup victory of her career with a score in the super-final of 80.15 points.
 
In second place was American Jaelin Kauf with a score of 77.17 with Perrine Laffont of France in third with 77.17.
 
Anthony was thrilled to share the victory with her teammate.
 
“It’s incredible, the last time was Matt and Britt Cox, so to take that top step with Matt, who I have taken a second place with before and to now take the top step is absolutely incredible and he ripped out there, his run was phenomenal.”
 
After five events the 24-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria is in first place on the World Cup standings with 480 points, 150 points ahead of Laffont of France. Anthony now has an unassailable lead in the season rankings with only one event left in early March.
 
The victory sees Graham move into third on the standings with 276 points, with Canadian Kingsbury in the lead with 440.
 
Also in action for Australia was Jackson Harvey in 14th, George Murphy in a personal best finish of 20th with Cooper Woods unfortunately not finishing his qualifying run.
 
Tomorrow it’s the aerial skiers turn to compete in Deer Valley, with the mogul skiers back in action the following day taking part in the dual moguls.

Competing in the second day of competition in Val St Come, Canada, 2018 Olympic medallist Matt Graham has just fallen short of obtaining his second podium of the season, finishing in fourth place.

The NSWIS skier had victories in the round of 32 and 16 against Japanese skiers Kosuke Sugimoto and Ikuma Horishima to advance to the semi-final stage.

In a tight semi-final against 2022 Olympic Champion Walter Wallberg of Sweden, Graham was unlucky to go down in a score of 19-16 points to the Swede.

In the dual for third place, Graham faced another Swede, Filip Gravenfors, losing another close dual 20-15.

Other Australian's in action in the dual moguls were Jakara Anthony in ninth, Jackson Harvey 15th, Cooper Woods 31st and George Murphy 38th.

The World Cup mogul tour now heads to Deer Valley, USA, with the Utah resort hosting a single moguls event on February 2 and dual moguls on February 4.

Jakara Anthony has remained the number one ranked mogul skier in the world, following a silver medal performance in Val St Come, Canada, her fifth medal of the season.

After advancing through to finals in first place, the NSWIS skier scored 81.88 points in the super final to be just edged out of first place by 0.37 points to Anri Kawamura of Japan. American Jaelin Kauf rounded out the podium in third place with a score of 78.34.

After four events, Anthony is ranked first on the mogul standings with 380 points, with French skier Parrine Laffont in second with 270 and Kawamura in third on 248.

“Definitely a solid performance, obviously wanted that top sport, but so does every girl out there, so you have to be laying it down every run,” said the 2022 Olympic Champion.

Also in action for Australia in the men’s event was Matt Graham who finished sixth in the super final, Cooper Woods 13th, Jackson Harvey 17th and George Murphy 38th.

Jakara Anthony has continued her perfect start to the World Cup season in the single moguls discipline, winning her third straight event, and also won a bronze medal in the dual moguls at Alpe d’Huez, France.

The 2022 Olympic champion recorded the seventh World Cup victory of her career, in yet another dominant performance leading from start to finish, moving through all three rounds of the competition in first place.

Competing under sunny skies in the French Alps, the NSWIS skier had the highest turn and jump points in the final to score 79.70 points to finish 3.89 points ahead of French skier Perrine Laffont while American Elizabeth Lemley took third with 74.75 points.

“Three competitions and three wins on this course is pretty crazy” said the 24-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
“It’s heaps of fun in there, it doesn't look as hard as it is, it’s pretty difficult to ski in there so you really have to be on your game.”

In the men’s event, all three Australians made finals, led by 2018 Olympic silver medallist Matt Graham who narrowly missed advancing to the super-final in seventh place, with teammates Cooper Woods and Jackson Harvey recording strong qualifying performances but both made mistakes in the final to finish in in 15th and 16th place respectively.

BRONZE FOR ANTHONY IN DUAL MOGULS
At the dual moguls event in Alpe d’Huez in France, Jakara Anthony made it a double medal weekend with a bronze medal finish on day two, and has found the podium in four of the five moguls events this season.
 
In the semi-final round Anthony narrowly went down to eventual winner Anri Kawamura with a score of 19-16 in the Japanese skier's favour. In the dual for third place, Anthony rebounded strongly to take the bronze medal with a score of 22-13 against Avital Carroll from Austria. Perrine Laffont from France finished in second.
 
“I am very happy to be walking away with a third place today” said Anthony who is currently ranked number one in the world on the overall moguls World Cup standings.
 
“The women’s field is so strong, and myself, Perrine and Anri keep tossing around those top few spots, so it’s pretty exciting to see that keep switching up and keeping it fresh the whole tour again.”

Matt Graham and Copper Woods both finished in 19th place in the duals, with Jackson Harvey in 49th.

The mogul skiing World Cup tour will resume in North America in late January, with the first event being a double event in Val St Come, Canada.

2022 Olympic champion Jakara Anthony has made it back-to-back victories to open the season with a gold medal performance in Idre Fjäll, Sweden.

The NSWIS skier was dominant, leading from start to finish, moving through all three rounds of the competition in first place to record the sixth World Cup victory of her career, and second win of the season following on from the success at the opening World Cup event last weekend in Finland.

In the super-final, Anthony again had the highest scoring turns and jumps to score 81.75, and finish ahead on the podium of Anri Kawamura of Japan with a score of 80.02 points in second place, with French skier Perrine Laffont in third scoring 76.08.

“What a way to kick off the season” said the 24-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.

“I am really proud of how I have been able to progress over the days we have been on the course, there has been a lot of figuring out to do and a lot of changes to make, and I think I am making progress in the right direction.”

In the men’s event, three Australians again made finals, led by 2018 Olympic silver medallist Matt Graham who continued his strong comeback from injury with a sixth place finish, with teammate Cooper Woods narrowly behind in seventh and Jackson Harvey in eleventh in just his second World Cup start.

George Murphy improved on his debut performance the week before in Finland to finish in 35th place.

DUAL MOGULS
A dual mogul event also took place in Idre Fjäll, with Jakara Anthony again the highest placed Australian advancing through to the semi-final round. In her semi-final, Anthony was outscored 15-20 to eventual event winner Elizabeth Lemley of the USA, and in the dual for bronze narrowly lost 17-18 to Perrine Laffont of France.

Matt Graham was unlucky not to advance through to the semi-final, after going down to American Nick Page 17-18 to finish in sixth place for the second time for the weekend. NSWIS teammates Cooper Woods finished in 16th, Jackson Harvey 27th and George Murphy 37th.

Next up for the mogul skiing athletes is a double World Cup event next weekend in Alpe d'Huez, France, their final competitions before the Christmas and New Year break.

Australia’s best skiers have made a fantastic start to the mogul skiing World Cup season, with a double podium and four athletes reaching finals at the opening event in Ruka, Finland.
 
2022 Olympic Gold Medallist Jakara Anthony was spectacular, earning the highest turn and air points in the women’s super final to claim the fifth World Cup victory of her career for the 24-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria, with a huge score of 81.69, more than 3 points ahead of second place.
 
Behind Anthony on the podium was Perrine Laffont of France and Anri Kawamura of Japan finishing with identical 78.33 scores, with the tie break for second favouring Laffont.
 
“It’s my first win in Ruka ever,” Anthony said after stepping off the Ruka Podium.
 
“To kick off the season with the win and the yellow bib is pretty massive. You come into the first event and you don’t know what everyone’s been doing since last season, so it’s exciting to come out and see what everyone can do and show off what you’re capable of.”
 
“It’s a bit of a different experience for me this year, coming off such incredible experiences last season with the gold medal and the crystal globes,” Anthony continued, “I’ve definitely got a bit of a target on my back now and I think there’s going to be a lot of learning experiences this season, but I’m really looking forward to it.”
 
In the men’s event, 2018 Olympic Silver Medallist Matt Graham bounced back strongly from his injury interrupted Olympic season, to record the 19th podium of his World Cup career.
 
Joining Graham in finals were teammates Cooper Woods in tenth place, and rookie NSW Institute of Sport skier Jackson Harvey making finals in a very strong World Cup debut in 14th.
 
Canadian mogul skiing legend Mikael Kingsbury took home the victory scoring 84.5 points, ahead of Ikuma Horishima of Japan with 80.48 points, and Graham scoring 80.12
 
“I was over the moon to be back here skiing Ruka and competing again so to come away with third place is kind of nice”, said the 28-year-old from the NSW Central Coast.
 
 “It’s been a long 12 months for me, getting injured before the Olympics, and then not having the best Olympic experience, and during the off season spending a lot of time rehabbing my collarbone which I broke last year, and not able to train as much as I would normally, so it’s nice to come here and know that I have still got it.”
 
Also in action for Australia making his debut was George Murphy in 49th.
 
The mogul skiing athletes will now head to the Swedish resort of Idre Fjäll for a double event next weekend on December 10-11.

Standing in the start gate of a World Cup event, staring down at the slope while your teammates cheer you on is a dream for many young skiers who grow up in the sport, hoping one day to compete on the world’s stage. 

The dream is about to become a reality for two young mogul skiers in the Australian team, Jackson Harvey and George Murphy, who are set to make their World Cup debut in Ruka, Finland, this weekend.

“I've been dreaming of standing in a World Cup start gate since I was probably 8 years old, so the excitement I'm feeling leading into my debut event is electric,” said Harvey, who at 20 years of age is the oldest of the two athletes. He added that as a kid he used to watch World Cup events with a sense of awe at the insane level of mastery of the sport.
 
“Now, I have a chance to earn my wings and establish myself at this level, so I'm pretty stoked!” he said.

Together with his teammate Murphy, who is 19, the pair have been training hard during the domestic season and in preparation for the European winter, focusing on key aspects of the discipline and the technical elements of both skiing and jumping. 

Under the guidance of coaches Peter McNeil and Kate Blamey, Harvey able to notch his personal best FIS result at the Australian National Championships, claiming the second place overall behind his idol (and now teammate) Matt Graham.

“I've made some pretty substantial adjustments to my approach to training and have seen huge improvements in my technical execution of acrobatic skills and on snow performance,” Harvey said. 

Murphy too had very positive results in the Australia/New Zealand Continental Cup (ANC) and at the ABOM Mogul Challenge, taking out the Junior category (U20) in both events and achieving top 10 results in Open Divisions against a competitive field. 


“I was really happy with my progression over the recent domestic season,” Murphy said. “I feel as though I was able to bring it all together.” 


The young Aussies have been working off snow as well, focusing on the necessary conditioning to compete at elite level and trying to make the most of the off-season, in order to give themselves the best chance to succeed in their first World Cup campaign.


“I'm extremely proud of how I've adapted to this new lifestyle and embraced the challenges of training with the best mogul skiing program in the world,” continued Harvey. 


Murphy said he is also happy with the leaps he has made in the gym after working closely with his strength and conditioning coach, Janina Stratus. “Throughout the year it has allowed me to push my physical strength. This has been a catalyst in helping me develop my skills on snow and consistently complete top to bottom runs,” he said.


Even though the two mogul talents have been working hard to be ready for their World Cup debut in Ruka, managing expectations will be key as they approach their rookie season. They are both cognizant that their focus should be on getting experience of the competitive environment at that level, familiarising themselves with the reality of being elite athletes and learning how to stay healthy and focused while travelling and competing. 


“I have not set any expectations,” confirmed Murphy. “I just want to go out there, show the world the work that I’ve put in throughout this year and have fun along the way.”


Similarly, Harvey is approaching the World Cup season without any objective goals in terms of results, concentrating on improving his skills and refining his craft, instead.


“For me, success this year means enjoying the privilege of travelling to incredible locations, taking advantage of every training and learning opportunity, and having fun doing what I love,” he said.


As they achieve their dream of competing in a World Cup event, Harvey and Murphy are surrounded by many of the athletes who used to be their idols just a few years ago, and still are role models they look up to.


“Since I started watching the FIS World Cups from a young age, I have always followed and looked up to Matt [Graham] and it is awesome to get the chance to get in the gate with him this weekend,” Murphy confessed. 


“Being able to train closely alongside high achievers in my sport including Matt, Jakara [Anthony] and Cooper [Woods] over the past year has really inspired me to push myself to work as hard as they do.


“Even now it still feels a little surreal to be training alongside them everyday,” echoed Harvey. 


“Matt has given me valuable tactical advice to help me manage the difficult course here in Ruka, and Jakara has been a great source of knowledge for nutrition and recovery strategies.


“I'm both humbled and thrilled to go to battle with the world class crew that is the Australian moguls team this week - I can't wait to step in the gate!”


The Ruka Moguls World Cup will be held on 3 December with five Aussie athletes competing; Jakara Anthony, Matt Graham, Cooper Woods, Jackson Harvey and George Murphy.


Tune into the finals LIVE from 2am AEDT on Sunday 4 December at https://www.snow.org.au/live/

Article by snow.org.au

The return of the ABOM Mogul Challenge to Mt Buller yesterday was a display of dazzling bumps skiing with an impressive international and local line up thrilled to be back on the Chamois course.
 
Familiar faces and newcomers were cheered enthusiastically by the spellbound crowd who lined the course all afternoon and into a chilly night rubbing shoulders with plenty of Olympic, World Cup and emerging talent. 
 
The blisteringly dual finals saw the top tier go head to head down the 197 metre course in just 20 seconds, squeezing in two spectacular aerial jumps between high speed bump sections.
 
The highlight of the night was Matt Graham dominating the course and the competition to take home his 7th ABOM trophy – the most titles in the history of the event, followed by Nick Cleaver who has five in his collection.
 
Austrian Avital Carrol beat out a strong stable of Japanese skiers to secure her first ABOM title.
 
Matt reflected on the win at the bottom of the course saying, “I was up against Kosuke Sugimoto and he’s one of the best skiers in the world so I just had to send it and it all came together in my last run.  It’s great to be competing again at Mt Buller under lights, it’s the second time we’ve done this and it’s pretty special to be able to it here in Australia. I’m coming back from an injury and getting back into training and loving the sport again, having a lot of fun.”
 
Avital summed up her experience taking out top place on the women’s podium, “It was super fast, super fun, charging all the time and kind of terrifying and super exciting at the same time!”
 
Event director Andrew Pattison was delighted to have the community back together, “This is the fun event that the athletes look forward to, it’s great to be back.”
 
101 athletes competed over the divisions which included open, youth and masters and Mt Buller showed the international mogul community the passion and energy the resort has for the sport beamed via a live-stream from the course.
 
OPEN WOMEN

1. Avital Carrol (Austria)
2. Rino Yanagimoto (Japan)
3. Anri Kawamura (Japan)

OPEN MEN

1. Matt Graham (Australia)
2. Kosuke Sugimoto (Japan)
3. Cooper Woods (Australia)
   

Last Friday the IOC Executive Board online meeting in Lausanne (SUI) has announced that three FIS events will join the Olympic Winter Games programme for Milano-Cortina 2026 (ITA).

The additional FIS events for the next OWG in Italy are both women’s and men’s dual moguls competitions as well as women’s ski jumping large hill event. The three new additions bring the total number of FIS medal events at the Olympic Winter Games to 58. In Beijing 2022, FIS staged 55 of the 109 medal events. The IOC Executive Board also added several non-FIS events to the 2026 Programme, including a skeleton mixed team event and luge doubles for both men and women.  Ski mountaineering has been also added into 2026 OWG programme as an entirely new discipline.

While FIS is proud to have the new events on the 2026 Programme, other proposed events on both freestyle and snowboard side of things such as ski cross mixed team and snowboard mixed team parallel slalom were ultimately not approved by the IOC Executive Board.

The addition of women’s and men’s dual moguls to the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games programme comes hot on the heels of the thrilling debut of both freeski big air as well as aerials mixed team competition earlier this year at Beijing 2022 Games. Since moguls has been one of the most watched events at the past several games and taking into account a tremendous effort by the freestyle community to include the second mogul discipline into the Olympic programme, it was only a matter of time before dual moguls would also get the nod from the IOC.

Worth mentioning here is also the fact that moguls made its Olympic debut as a demonstration sport already back at Calgary 1988, while getting in the Olympic programme just four years later at Albertville 1992 OWG.

To include dual moguls into the OWG programme has been a very long-term plan by the freestyle skiing community, and it goes back all the way to the very first FIS Freestyle Ski World Championships in Tignes in 1986, where dual moguls was on the programme. Furthermore the event has been part of the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup circuit since 1979 and has been consistently part of the World Championships programme since 1999.

Also for the first time under current structure the 2021/22 season saw women’s and men’s dual moguls crystal globes being awarded. And while there were already attempts for dual moguls crystal globes back between 1999 and 2003, the time was not quite right as the two events - moguls and dual moguls - were too similar in regulation and approach. Now with the development of duals, the introduction of the format starting with brackets from the beginning and the technical evaluation of the athletes,  the timing was just perfect. Consequently the 2021/22 dual moguls World Cup campaig was highly competitive and extremly exciting to follow.

Dual moguls offers a thrilling head-to-head competition in a knock-out format, displaying immense intensity of competing side-by-side in a truly spectator friendly manner. And with the recent introduction of dual moguls into Olympic Winter Games programme and a promising 2022/23 World Cup calendar that includes as many as seven dual moguls events, there is a big opportunity to grow the sport even further.

“As a person, who has been involved in sport since 1978, and who’s first competition was in fact dual moguls event, this is quite an exciting day”, said FIS Assistant Race Director for Moguls & Aerials Konrad Rotermund, “It’s wonderful that as a sport of freestyle skiing have grown around us  with slopestyle, halfpipe, ski cross, aerials, moguls and some of our team events as well, we’re finally getting what may be our most exciting event on the world’s biggest stage. It’s going to be one heck of a show in 2026”.

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.