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 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.

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 claimed a bronze medal at the FIS World Cup event in Tazawako, Japan, her second straight podium in the mogul skiing discipline. 
 
The 21 year old NSWIS athlete was consistent all day, placing second in qualifications and also in the first round of finals with a score of 80.82 points. In the top six super final, Anthony finished in the bronze medal position with a score of 79.01,  3.02 points behind the event winner and current world number one, Perrine Laffont of France who scored 82.03 points, with Junko Hoshino of Japan in second with a score of 79.75.
 
“It was a great day for me, but not weather wise with a bit of everything today, but I was really happy with how my skiing went, especially in training I was making some progress and showed that off in my competition runs”, Anthony commented after the event.
 
“There are always challenges in every course, I had a mistake in my qualifications run, but it’s about remembering that and making the adjustments that you need to. “
 
“The goal for me is more about the quality of my skiing, and not so much the end result, I just want to be putting down runs that I know are technically at my best and that’s the major goal for me.”
 
“Still five more World Cup starts for me this season, so going from here it’s just about taking every opportunity I can to improve on my skiing to make the little changes that I have been working on throughout this season and incorporating them into every run.”
 
This result is Anthony’s seventh World Cup medal of her career (1 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze), and continues her great form in the past 12 months which also included silver at the 2019 World Championships.
 
Australia’s PyeongChang silver medallist, Matt Graham, finished in fifth place, his fifth top six super final performance of the season. NSWIS teammate Brodie Summers finished in 11th place, with Sophie Ash in 15th and Claudia Gueli 26th.
 
The dual mogul event in Japan had to be cancelled following heavy snowfalls on the day of the event.

After eight events so far on the FIS World Cup tour, Anthony is currently ranked second in the world. The Tazawako World Cup was the last event of the season for Graham and Summers, with Graham ranked in fourth place and Summers in 13th.

Next week Jakara Anthony will be the only Australian in action, competing in a dual mogul event in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on March 1st.

In the most prestigious event on the World Cup mogul skiing tour, Jakara Anthony has rose to the occasion to record her first medal of the season in Deer Valley, USA.
 
The 21 year old from Barwon Heads in Victoria, won qualifications and the first round of finals with a huge score of 80.92 points. In the top six super final, Anthony finished in the silver medal position, 0.84 points behind the event winner, Perrine Laffont of France, who is undefeated after six events this season. Rounding out the podium in third was Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Canada.
 
“I am pretty happy with how I skied”, Anthony commented in the finish area after her run.
 
"I managed to get lots of the finicky little bits and pieces that I have been trying to hone in on the last couple of days, especially in the first final run I managed to get it all together and put down a few high quality runs when it mattered most.”
 
“I had some really close calls this season, so to finally be back on the podium is a great feeling, knowing that I am doing the right stuff and working towards where I want to be.”
 
“My new back mute jump is going pretty well for me, I think I did a pretty good job with it tonight, its actually really helped a lot of other aspects of my run  as well so I am really happy with the progression and can’t wait to see how it goes.”
 
This result is Anthony’s sixth World Cup medal of her career (1 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze), and continues her great form in the past 12 months which also included silver at the 2019 World Championships on the same Deer Valley course.
 
Australia’s PyeongChang silver medallist, Matt Graham, finished in fifth place, his fourth top six super final performance of the season.

Sophie Ash qualified for the third World Cup final of her career, finishing in 13th place, with other Australian results including James Matheson in 19th, Cooper Woods-Topalovic 28th, Madii Himbury 30th, Claudia Gueli 31st, Brodie Summers 39th and Ben Matsumoto 45th.
 
With seven events remaining on the FIS World Cup tour, Anthony is currently ranked second in the world, with Graham in fourth place.
 
The mogul skiers will again take on the Deer Valley bumps in two days time, competing in the spectacular dual mogul event.

NSWIS mogul skiing athletes Jakara Anthony and Matt Graham have again finished close to achieving their first podiums of the season, placing fourth and sixth places respectively in Calgary, Canada.

Anthony came agonisingly close, just 0.05 points from taking the bronze medal.

This result was her fourth super final performance of the season.

Olympic silver medalist Graham qualified for the super final in third place, but made some mistakes in the turns leading into the bottom air, landing him in 6th place.

Brodie Summers qualified for the final in 11th place, and finished 15th in the final after battling illness during the week.

"Rough week in Calgary. I’ve been feeling under the weather all week. My day ended placing 15th in the final."

"I’m doing everything that I can to facilitate a quick recovery as we make our way to Deer Valley for the next event."

After five World Cup events, Anthony is ranked number four on the World Cup standings, with Graham in fifth, and Summers 12th.

Other Australian results included Cooper Woods-Topalovic with a personal best 17th place finish, Sophie Ash 22nd, James Matheson 23rd, Claudia Gueli 24th and Ben Matsumoto 44th.

IMAGE: Jakara Anthony tearing up the Calgary bumps © FIS Freestyle

NSWIS mogul skiing athletes Jakara Anthony and Matt Graham have finished so close yet again to achieving their first podiums of the season, finishing in fourth and fifth places respectively in Mont Tremblant, Canada.
 
Both skiers had strong qualifying runs, advancing to the first round of finals in the top three. In finals Anthony advanced to the super final in second place, with Graham in fifth.
 
Anthony was very unlucky not to make the podium in the super final, missing out on third place by just 0.70 points. Unfortunately Graham had a few mistakes in his super final run ending up in fifth place.
 
Olympian Brodie Summers also performed well, just missing the six man super final in seventh place.

The women's event was won by Olympic Champion Perrine Laffont of France, with Yuliya Galysheva of Kazakhstan in second, with Russian Anastasiia Smirnova in third. Taking out the men's event was Canadian Olympic Champion Mikael Kingsbury, with Ikuma Horishima in second and Ben Cavet of France placing third.

“The course was rather challenging this past weekend in Mont Tremblant and a lot of men were making mistakes across the board on the jumps and turns," Graham commented after the event.

"I trained quite well leading into the event, but in my super final run I got  little caught up in the middle section which cost me."

"Mikael, Ikuma and Ben skied really well in the super final which was impressive to see. That will be the key for me moving forward into the next couple of weeks of competition. Putting down a clean package run that I am happy with will be the focus and hopefully the results will come with that.”

After four World Cup events, Anthony is ranked number three on the World Cup standings, Graham fourth, and Summers in tenth.
 
Other results for Australia in Tremblant included Sophie Ash in 18th, Cooper Woods-Topalovic in a personal best 20th, Claudia Gueli 24th, and James Matheson in 25th.
 
The mogul skiing athletes will next be in action in Calgary, Canada, on February 1.

The Australian Mogul Skiing Team has completed two days of World Cup competition in Thaiwoo, China, with some great performances, but an unfortunate accident to former World Champion Britt Cox putting a dampener on the weekend.
 
On day one, three Australian athletes qualified for the top six super-final, equal most in the event along with Japan, with Britt Cox almost making it four athletes, just missing out in seventh place.
 
In the super-final, Matt Graham and Jakara Anthony missed out on making the podium by the smallest of margins, finishing in fourth place.
 
Brodie Summers finished in fifth place, his first super-final performance since February 2017, after injury impacted his past two season.
 
Summers was thrilled with his performance after the event.
 
“It’s a great feeling to get back to a higher level of skiing once again, after all of the issues with my knee. It’s been a long road to get back to a place where I’m happier with my skiing.
 
“Today felt like a big step in the right direction and it’s nice to get some redemption after the mishap that I had at the World Cup opener in Ruka last week.
 
“I couldn’t have done it without my support network - my family, my team, my sponsors, the OWIA and NSWIS and everyone else who’s played a part in my recovery.”
 
Ikuma Horishima (Japan) upset world number one Mikael Kingsbury (Canada) to take victory in the men’s event, with Ben Cavet (France) in third. In the women’s event, Perrine Laffont (France) won her second straight event of the season ahead of Yulia Galysheva (Kazakhstan) and Justine Dufour-Lapointe (Canada).
 
Other Australians in the field included James Matheson 27th, Cooper-Woods-Topalovic 30th and Claudia Gueli also in 30th.
 
On day two, the first Dual Mogul event of the year took place, with the highlight being a personal best sixth place finish to 2018 Olympian Claudia Gueli.
 
Matt Graham also made it through to the quarter final stage finishing in eighth, with Jakara Anthony ninth, James Matheson 20th, Brodie Summers 29th and Cooper Woods-Topalovic 35th.
 
In her quarter final round dual, Britt Cox had a big fall after the top air ski out, losing consciousness and sustaining injuries to her ribs and collarbone.
 
Further scans are still being completed, with the treatment plan to be determined once she returns to Australia.
 
“I am a bit shaken after my crash in the duals in Thaiwoo, but my coach Kate Blamey and the OWIA Head Physio Peter Caine have taken excellent care of me and I feel in safe hands.”

The dual mogul events were won by the 2018 Olympic Champions, Mikael Kingsbury (Canada) and Perinne Laffont (fFrance).
 
The mogul athletes will now head home for a break in Australia, before resuming training after Christmas in Winter Park, Colorado, USA.

IMAGE - Britt Cox taking on the Thaiwoo Moguls on day one © FIS

Mt Buller turned on the sunshine and the bumps for the legendary ABOM Mogul Challenge on Saturday 31 August with the action extending into a thrilling night final under new stadium lights.

An exciting line up of Australian and international talent kept the crowds gripped with fast and stylish runs on show. The growth in Asian skiing talent clearly on show with a solid line up of Japanese and Chinese entrants mixing it with the locals.


A number of exciting dual heats saw runs going down to the wire. The format is a thrilling one for spectators featuring skiers going head to head down 197 metres of bumps with two huge jumps.


The men’s event was hotly contested, with a number of the best skiers in the world in action including Olympic Silver Medallist Matt Graham, World Cup medallist Brodie Summers, and World Cup winner Benjamin Cavet (FRA).


It was impressive to see the jumping degree of difficulty step up in the women’s event, especially the Japanese athletes performing jumps not seen before in the women’s field at the ABOM Mogul Challenge.

Britt Cox was in good form for her 14th event starting the competition back as a Junior in 2005 ultimately taking 2nd place on the podium behind Rino Yanagimoto (JPN) in the women’s. Fellow Aussie Olympian Claudia Gueli also had a good run narrowly missing the podium to take 4th place.

The men put on a dazzling show with the usual contenders at the top of the table and Brodie Summers ultimately taking the top spot from James Matheson and Matt Graham who hold 6 and 1 previous ABOM title respectively.

Current world number three and Mt Buller skier Jakara Anthony unfortunately came unstuck on the top jump in her qualification run, catching her feet in the soft snow.

Mt Buller has hosted the ABOM Moguls since 1989 at the height of ‘hot dogging’ and freestyle skiing. Mt Buller is home to the Olympic freestyle team and the new lighting and improvements to the legendary Chamois run look set to ensure a strong future for the sport.

PyeongChang Olympian Jakara Anthony was unstoppable at the 2019 Australian National Mogul Championships, defeating some of the sport’s biggest names to win the two women’s events and the Australian women’s championship.   

The 21-year-old also paired with Olympic silver medallist Matt Graham to win bronze in the first ever team’s event staged at Perisher’s ‘Toppa’s Dream’.

Anthony was a decisive winner of Tuesday’s qualification, booking her finals berth with a very strong 83.73. She was again the best in the round of 16, scoring 79.02 to give her the advantage leading into the super final of six.

Proving her consistency, Anthony produced a final run score of 82.65 to take the first of two event titles. Her next nearest competitor was Japan’s Anri Kawamura who scored 74.78.

Australia’s Britt Cox finished just outside the podium in fourth position.

Anthony was back at it on Wednesday, defeating the Olympic gold medallist Perrine Laffont (FRA) by less than a point, winning with a thrilling 78.18 to Laffont’s 77.68.

In the men’s event, Olympic silver medallist Matt Graham was the best of the Aussies, finishing second on Wednesday and sixth on Tuesday. His results earning him the Australian’s men’s championship.

Graham qualified for Tuesday’s super final in third place, but an unsteady landing on the second kicker in the super final proved costly and he finished sixth behind fellow Aussie Brodie Summers who was fifth.

Olympic gold medallist Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) was again the one to beat, winning gold on Wednesday and silver on Tuesday.

Results from the two days of competition contributed to overall Australian champion standings*.

Men’s Open
1st Matthew Graham
2nd Brodie Summers
3rd James Matheson

Men’s Junior
1st Cooper Woods-Topalovi
=2nd Ben Matsumoto and George Murphy

Women’s Open
1st Jakara Anthony
2nd Britteny Cox
3rd Claudia Gueli

Women’s Junior
1st Emma Bosco
2nd Charlotte Wilson
3rd Georgia Stewart

One event that had everyone talking was the inaugural Teams’ Competition which was run as a trial for potential inclusion into future World Championships and Olympic Winter Games.

Many of the sport’s top contenders, including Anthony and Graham took part in the event. 

Using the dual moguls format, competitors, in mixed-teams of two, race one after the other and against another competitor from an opposing team.

Scores from each team member are combined to determine the overall winner.

Similarly, to dual moguls, the team that wins the bout advances to the next stage, while the losing team is eliminated.
Team Pacific consisting of Rino Yanagimoto (JPN) and Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) took out the gold medal, with French pair Perrine Laffont and Jules Escobar taking home the silver and Australians  Anthony and Graham claiming the bronze.

The team event was praised by spectators as being amazing to watch, keeping them on the edge of their seat and some of the best skiing that has ever been seen on the course.

In another great step forward for the sport, a full judging panel of seven adjudicated the event for the first time in Australia, many boasting International World Cup experience.

Australian Olympians Matt Graham and Jakara Anthony have won Men’s and Women’s Moguls World Championships silver medals in Deer Valley, Utah.

On the one-year anniversary of the PyeongChang 2018 Opening Ceremony, it marks the first World Championships podiums for both athletes, after the NSWIS pair were the top placed Aussies at last year’s Olympic Winter Games.

Continuing her season-best form, 20-year-old Anthony sailed through the qualifiers and top-18 Final#1 in first place.
The 6 athletes in Final 2, also known as the Super Final, held their breath at the bottom of the hill after Anthony’s final run, knowing the scores would be tight for the top of the dais.

Anthony’s run of 78.99 in Final 2 sealed the silver medal for Australia, only 0.15 off the winner, Yulia Galysheva from Kazakhstan.

France’s Perrine Laffont rounded out the podium in third, with a top score of 78.70.

Anthony, who placed fourth on debut at PyeongChang, said it was really special to win her first World Championships medal in front of her family and friends.

“It’s been an incredible night,” she said.

“Deer Valley is such a special event, skiing under the lights, and I had my whole family and a massive Australian crew here watching. To get up on the podium, I’m really happy with how I went tonight.”

Dual Olympian Graham has 15 World Cup podiums and an Olympic silver medal to his name, but was finally able to add a World Championships medal to his collection today.

The 24-year-old qualified for the Super Final in second place. His run of 81.64 was only bested by PyeongChang gold medallist, Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury, the most successful Mogul skier of all time, who won his third World Championships title with a massive score of 84.89.

Japan’s Daichi Hara finished in third on 81.64.

After unpredictable conditions earlier in the week, Graham was thrilled to finally add World Championships hardware to his impressive collection.

“Wow what a night, this week has been a rollercoaster!” he said.

“The course has been so hard with a lot of snow earlier in the week, so I’m really happy that it all came together tonight.

“I found a groove and I think I was absorbing up to my chin on some of those moguls they were so big. But I’m really happy with the way I skied, and I feel a sense of closure.

“I skied really fast in the Super Final, probably a little faster than I wanted which caused a couple of mistakes which might have cost me the win. But credit to Mik [Kingsbury], he’s skiing really well and having an amazing season like always.”

In other Aussie results, Sochi 2014 Olympian Taylah O’Neill was the second placed Aussie in the women’s event, placing 13th with a score of 64.68, while 22-year-old Sophie Ash finished 15th in her World Championships debut with a run of 59.18.

Narrowly missing the 18-woman finals was Claudia Gueli in 19th and three-time Olympian Britt Cox in 20th, who then jumped into the commentary box to commentate on both the men’s and women’s finals.

PyeongChang Olympian Rohan Chapman-Davies finished 14th with a run of 70.47, with Brodie Summers 27th and James Matheson 30th.

In the Dual Moguls event, which took place the following day, Jakara Anthony finished in 7th and Matt Graham 8th as the leading Australian athletes.

Also in action in the dual moguls was Rohan Chapman-Davies, who backed up his single moguls performance to again finish 14th, with James Matheson 22nd, Brodie Summers 26th, Taylah O'Neill 16th, and Sophie Ash 18th.

IMAGE - Jakara Anthony and Matt Graham on the World Championship podium in Deer Valley © OWIA/ Lachy Keevers
Georgia Thompson
olympics.com.au