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

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

NSWIS mogul skier Jakara Anthony has claimed her first ever World Cup gold medal at the Lake Placid World Cup tour event, beating out France’s Perrine Laffont and USA’s Tess Johnson.

The 20-year-old set one of the fastest times of the day while also landing both of her jumps to top the leaderboard with 78.76, after qualifying through to the final in fourth position.

Anthony, who finished fourth at her Olympic debut at Pyeonchang in 2018, was ecstatic with her first World Cup victory.

“I’m so stoked! I had a great day on the course, it was epic conditions and I put down some runs I’m super stoked with, got all the bits and pieces together I was working on and managed to come away on top, I couldn’t be happier right now,” Anthony said.

“I’ve just had a great time skiing in Lake Placid and the course here is probably the all-time best on the World Cup tour.”

The win was Anthony’s second podium this season to go with consistent top five finishes, showing encouraging form in the leadup to the 2019 World Championships in Utah in February.

“I’ve stepped up my game this season and it’s paying off with my results.”

“Now we have the next stop coming in Tremblant with the world champs in Deer Valley following up right after that so I’ll be definitely looking to back this up in the following weeks.”

Pyeongchang silver medallist Matt Graham continued the successful day for the Australians, taking bronze behind France’s Benjamin Cavet and Sweden’s Walter Wallberg.

“I’m stoked to finish up with a bronze medal today,” Graham said. “Special congratulations to Jakara for her first World Cup win, I’m sure there’s many more to come.”

Fellow Aussies Britt Cox and Brodie Summers also made it through to the finals, finishing 9th and 13th respectively.

Also in action for Australia but missing out on finals where Taylah O'Neill in 21st, Claudia Gueli 24th, Sophie Ash 25th, Rohan Chapman-Davies 2th and Cooper Woods-Topalovic 34th.

IMAGE: Jakara Anthony & Matt Graham, medallists in Lake Placid © OWIA/Lachy Keevers

olympics.com.au

Australia’s Mogul Skiing Team kicked off the New Year with the Calgary World Cup over the weekend, while unpredictable weather hampered Australia’s Skeleton and Alpine athletes.

NSWIS skiers Jakara Anthony and Matt Graham were the top placed mogul skiers in Calgary, both recording 4th place finishes in their respective events. Britt Cox and James Matheson also put down top-10 performances, both finishing 9th.

PyeongChang silver medallist Graham qualified in second place for the first final, but said he still needs to give more to boost him back up into the medal positions.

“Yesterday went quite well for me and I am happy to come away with a 4th place,” he said. “I didn't ski my best runs in the finals so I still have a lot left in the tank moving forward.

“After qualifying second, putting down two solid finals runs is something that I am looking to build on this week going into Lake Placid [World Cup].

“We have a big few weeks leading up to the World Championships so putting down consistent performances each week is a high priority.”

Claudia Gueli qualified for her fourth individual World Cup final, placing 14th overall in the women’s event. Fellow Aussie Sophie Ash placed 24th and unfortunately Taylah O’Neill had a crash on course and didn’t record a finishing score.

In the men’s event, Sochi Olympian Brodie Summers narrowly missed out on a place in the top-16 final, placing 17th in qualifiers. Rohan Chapman-Davies placed 32nd and Cooper Woods-Topalovic 38th.

IMAGE - The Mogul Course at the Canadian Olympic Park (COP)  © Mateusz Kielpinski (FIS)

Georgia Thompson
olympics.com.au

NSWIS mogul skier Cooper Woods has made history, becoming the first Australian male to win a US Selection event in Winter Park, CO, USA.

The US Selection Events are held annually to determine World Cup start for the US Ski Team, with a number of other nations also competing. The schedule was two single mogul events and a dual mogul event to finish the series of events.

In the first competition, Woods improved from a qualifying position of eighth, to claim his first major overseas victory. In the second event he backed up his day one win with another podium, a silver medal to finish an impressive week of competition.

Also showing strong early season form was NSWIS team mate & 2018 Olympian Claudia Gueli, who narrowly missed the podium on day two in fourth place. Gueli also made finals in the first event finishing 12th.

Australian Athlete Results
Women
Claudia Gueli - 12th & 4th
Maddison Everingham - 17th & 19th
Sophie Ash - 32nd, 16th & 8th
Emma Bosco - 40th & 23rd
Georgia Stewart - 26th

Men
Cooper Woods - 1st & 2nd
Benjamin Matsumoto - 26th
Ethan Topalovic - 45th, 33rd & 38th
Tom Van Dongen - DNF, 43rd & 28th
Chester Burns - DNF, 46th & 39th

IMAGE: Cooper Woods celebrates on the podium in Winter Park © NSW/ASCT Freestyle

Jakara Anthony and Britt Cox have finished just off the podium in the women's moguls finals at Bokwang Snow Park.

On Olympic debut, 19-year-old Jakara Anthony was exceptional as she claimed fourth after scoring 75.38 in the Super Final.

Cox headed into the Super Final with the second highest score in Final 2 before scoring 75.08 to claim fifth place. 

Perrine Laffont of France won the gold medal with a score of 78.65, with defending Olympic Champion Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Canada claiming silver and Kazakhstan's Yulia Galysheva taking the bronze medal. 

“I had a lot of runs today and they progressively got better," said Anthony. 

"I think my first two final runs were my best and then full on day so by the time you get to the Super Final it starts to drop off a bit. It wasn’t my best run of the day but I’m still really happy with how I performed.

“The whole thing’s been a massive learning experience for me and I’ll definitely be taking all the experience that I had here going into Beijing 2022."

After having to come through qualification 2 to make the top 20, Anthony produced one of her best runs of the competition with a score of 76.81 to move through to the final 12 in fourth place. She then finished the second final in 4th with a score of 76.85.

Cox closely followed Anthony with a score of 75.79 to make the top 12 in 5th before then scoring 78.28 to move into the Super Final in 2nd.

“My goal for this week and for tonight in particular was to absolutely go for it, give it everything I’ve got and I really truly believe that I did that tonight so for that I’m really happy and I’m really proud," Cox said.

"It didn’t really pay off for me in the Super Final, I went too big and too fast and was scrappy in the middle but I achieved my goal of going for it so that’s a positive and I’m proud of that”

Over the past eight years Cox has seen the sport develop sport so much in Australia and she is not only proud of her perforance but also that of her teammates.

“This is my third Games so it’s not my first rodeo but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this experience.

"I've especially enjoyed being part of a full team, it’s been so exciting with this being the first time we’ve ever had four women from Australia competing in the moguls so I’m really proud to have three other teammates there skiing alongside me.

"That’s super exciting but I’m definitely looking forward to the next four years and to Beijing in the future.”

Madii Himbury, who had earlier progressed from qualification 2 scored 68.19 to finish 20th overall.

Himbury said it was “pretty exciting” to make it into the finals.

“I squeezed into the top 20, just, and I was hoping to go a bit faster and a bit bigger and I did," she said.

"I just had a little mistake on the bottom there, drifted a little and so didn’t get the score that I’m hoping for but I did what I wanted to do and I went for it so I’m happy.

“It’s been pretty good, the noise carries as well so we can hear all the cheers up in the start gate. We’ve got lots of friends and family here so it was all very exciting.

Claudia Gueli unfortunately had a fall between her two jumps in qualification 2 and finished 23rd overall.
"That was really fun, I was happy with my skiing up until the little hiccup, but regardless it’s been such a journey so I can’t complain," said Gueli.

"It’s pretty good conditions, the course is a bit firmer because it’s colder today but we’re used to it from other courses around the globe.

"I got an edge, I was a bit too over the wrong foot on one of the turns and once that happens it’s really hard to come back from so I pulled out, tried to save myself but it doesn’t always pan out the way you want it to.

"I'm going to go home and rest up and start training in about a month to prepare for the next year."

Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au

Australia’s female mogul skiers have opened Australia’s PyeongChang 2018 campaign at Phoenix Park this morning.

Two-time Olympian and 2017 World Champion Britt Cox was the first of the Aussies on the course in Friday’s qualification run, progressing through to Final 1 after finishing 6th place with a score of 76.78.

“It was so fun to get out there, I always say that comp day is my favourite day,” she said.

“Competing at the Olympics and the first event of the Games is really exciting. The course was ripping this morning, so I had a lot of fun.”

For the 23-year-old, who also has a World Championships gold medal and a Crystal Globe as the top ranked freestyle skier of 2017, Friday’s run was “business as usual”.

“I came out in training this morning, got to know the course, was working on my technique and fine-tuning things,” she said.

“Whenever I click into my skis I’m happy, so I had a really good time out here this morning.”

Cox was the only one of the Australian contingent directly through to Final 1 after placing in the top ten.

Australia’s three other female moguls skiers will now need to place in the top ten of qualification 2, which will feature the 20 skiers that have not already progressed, on Sunday to join Cox in Final 1.

Olympic debutant Jakara Anthony finished in 14th place with a score of 69.49 and said that it felt “pretty awesome” to have put down her first Winter Games run.

“There’s room to improve, I can only go up from now,” she said.

“There’s lots of girls that are great that are in front of me a lot of the time or sometimes they’re behind me, it switches up a bit so you don’t really know who’s going to ski well on the course or not.”

The 19-year-old’s fellow teammate and Olympic debutant Madii Himbury finished in 15th place after her first run which featured her signature backflip.

“Today was my first Olympic run so it was a bit nerve racking. Hopefully next time I can go a little bit faster for the whole run,” she said.

“It’s all very exciting, last night it kind of sunk in a bit more with the Welcome Ceremony. The nerves are now out of the way so now we can go and rip it on Finals day.”

Also making her first Olympic appearance in PyeongChang, Claudia Gueli finished in the top 20 with a score of 68.68.
The 20-year-old said that she will be aiming to pick up more speed in the second qualification round.

“I think with the right attitude and the right preparation I should be able to do it,” she said.

“It’s absolutely incredible, I’ve dreamt about this my whole life … I came out today with the best training I’ve had throughout the three days of training. I got to put all the pieces together in comp so it turned out really well.”

The Women's finals will be held on Day 2 and Men's finals on Day 3 (February 10-11). See more of the freestyle skiing Team HERE. 

David Barden
olympics.com.au

With only three weeks until the Opening Ceremony of PyeongChang 2018, the final Olympic qualification Moguls World Cup kicks off in Tremblant, Canada this weekend.

Matt Graham will lead the charge for Australia, fresh off a bronze medal from last week’s Deer Valley World Cup.
With four podium finishes (three bronze and one silver) from five starts this season, Graham’s coach Steve Desovich, is pleased with the progress he is making this Olympic season.

“Matt has done a superb job in most of the events this season getting a handle on his speed and managing his run accordingly,” Desovich said.

"The aims for Matt are to achieve a number of top to bottom simulations in the two days of training beforehand, thereby placing him in a position to perform well in the event itself."

The current world number three will be joined by his Aussie teammates James Matheson, Rohan Chapman-Davies and Cooper Woods-Tapolovic.

Currently ranked 14th in the world, young-gun Jakara Anthony will headline the women’s team in Canada while current world number three Britt Cox attends a pre-Games training camp.

"Britt will not partake in the Tremblant event but will instead engage in a strength and conditioning camp to increase her physical capacities and recovery before Korea,” Desovich said.

19-year-old Anthony made her first Super Final last week at the first Deer Valley World Cup, finishing fifth overall. She has also recorded three top-20 performances this season and will look to carry that strong form in the final world cup before the Winter Olympics.

Joining Anthony on the course will be Sophie Ash, Claudia Gueli, Madii Himbury, Taylah O’Neill and Krystle Yin.

21-year-old Ash has already qualified for two small finals this year, in what is her debut World Cup season.

Teammate Gueli has also recorded a career-best result this year, finishing 10th at the Calgary World Cup in early January. 

The Tremblant Moguls World Cup kicks off at 1.30pm local time (5.30am AEDT Sunday 21st). Watch the finals live in Eurosport from 7.30am AEDT Sunday morning and follow the results online HERE.

Georgia Thompson
olympics.com.au

Australia’s top mogul skiers are strapping in their skis for the final push towards PyeongChang with the World Cup season kicking off in Ruka, Finland on Saturday.

2017 World Champion Britt Cox will lead the charge for Australia in hope of defending her first ever World Cup victory, which she won on the very same mountain 363 days ago (read more about Cox’s preparations here >>>).

Fellow Sochi Olympian and current World number three, Matt Graham won silver in Ruka last year and will be determined for another podium finish this time around.

Cox, Graham and the rest of the Australian Moguls Team have been in Ruka for over a week now, making the most of time time on snow in the pre-comp period before the official World Cup training kicked off on Thursday.

“We achieved 10-11 days on snow with Britt and Matt working separate components of their turns and jumps while also merging them into whole runs,” Australian Moguls Head Coach Steve Desovich said.

“Both Britt and Matt have had some nice moments in training while also understanding that the whole package with all the skills is very much an on going process.

“Both skiers have engaged in their efforts in their physical preparation as well with John Marsden and Will Morgan (Physio) piloting those efforts on behalf of the program.

“We are also fortunate to have our performance psych Dr. Tom Hammond on hand to continue with his integration into our program operation with his curriculum,” Desovich said.

Joining Cox on the start line include fellow PyeongChang hopefuls Jakara Anthony (OWIA) and NSWIS athletes Sophie Ash, Claudia Gueli, Madii Himbury, Krystle Yin and Sochi Olympian Taylah O’Neill.

Alongside Graham in the men’s event will be his Aussie teammates Rohan Chapman-Davies, James Matheson and Cooper Woods-Topalovic.

Sochi Olympian Brodie Summers is missing from the start list as he continues to recover from a knee reconstruction earlier in the year. The world number six is still aiming to qualify for the PyeongChang Games, but will leave his run for a few more weeks to maximize his knee recovery.

"The course here in Ruka is always very challenging and therefore each skier needs to know their parameters and be able to produce on demand with little mystery,” Desovich said.

The event in Ruka marks the start of the five World Cup circuit where athletes will accumulate points to secure a quota for their country at next year’s Winter Olympics.

Qualification kicks off on Saturday night (AEDT) with both the men’s and women’s finals to take place early Sunday morning.

Geogia Thompson
olympics.com.au

Britt Cox has created history, becoming the first Australian female to win a Mogul Skiing World Cup title, in today’s Dual Mogul event in Tazawako, Japan.
 
After victory in yesterday single moguls event at the same resort, the 22-year-old NSWIS skier went down in the round of 16 to Russian Marika Pertakhiya by the smallest of margins, 18 to 17, and finished in ninth place.
 
Fortunately for Cox her closest rivals, Perrine Laffont of France and Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Canada were also unable to progress to the later rounds of the event. Cox now leads Laffont by 259 points and wraps up the series win, with only two events and a maximum of 200 points remaining in China next weekend.
 
Cox’s outstanding season comes on the back of six World Cup victories, which equals the legendary Dale Begg-Smith, who won six World Cup events in his Olympic Gold Medal winning year in 2005-2006.
 
Once the news came in that the title had been secured, Cox reflected on her journey in the sport.
 
“Mogul skiing has been my passion ever since I was a little kid. I live and breathe moguls, so to find out this afternoon that I have won the crystal globe for mogul skiing feels incredible."
 
“The job certainly is not done yet, we still have two more world cups in China before the World Championships in Spain."

"I skied well in the duals today but my opponent in the round of 16 skied better. It was a close one but I think I got a bit wild in the middle section which meant the dual went her way."
 
"I am so grateful for the motivated and hard working support team I have around me. The  Australian system of OWIA, AOC, AIS, NSWIS and Ski and Snowboard Australia provide our team with the best possible support to allow us to simply do our job as best we can week to week."
 
Olympic Winter Institute of Australia Mogul Skiing Head Coach Steve Desovich was thrilled with Cox's season after the event.
 
"Today Britt formally clinched the World Cup Title, which we are ecstatic with."
 
"This is a very monumental achievement and so well deserved. Ultimately only the very best are able to stay consistent throughout a whole season and emerge victorious."
 
“Having said this, we have two events remaining in China next week and the World Championships in March, which is where the focus will be at this stage.”

Cox’s World Cup title was not the only highlight for the OWIA/NSWIS Mogul Skiing Program in Japan, with Matt Graham putting together another impressive performance to take bronze.
 
Graham advanced though the first few rounds before a semi-final showdown with world number two, Benjamin Cavet of France. In a very competitive dual, Graham was unfortunately unable to progress to the big-final, going down 19 to 16.
 
Graham bounced back in the small-final, this time being on the right side of the 19-16 decision to take bronze against Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Reiherd.
 
Graham was thrilled to come away with his third World Cup medal of the season.
 
“Today was pretty awesome. I am really happy to come away with my third consecutive podium here in Tazawako.”
 
“Today was pretty awesome. I am really happy to come away with my third consecutive podium here in Tazawako.”
 
“The duals were extremely fast today and I had some really good runs and some runs which I was just able to scrape through the round, but, I guess that is duals. It’s one against one and you just need to do what you have to do to win.”
 
“Unfortunately I made a big mistake against Benjamin Cavet in the semi-final as I was pushing my limit with how fast I could ski, but to bounce back and put a really good small-final run down was very satisfying.”
 
Other Australians in action included NSWIS skiers Rohan Chapman-Davies 9th, Jakara Anthony 16th, Madi Himbury 24th, Brodie Summers 27th, Krystle Yin 28th, Claudia Gueli 32nd and James Matheson 39th.

Britt Cox has sustained her excellent World Cup season by winning her sixth Mogul Skiing World Cup gold medal at Tazawako, Japan.
 
Today’s win makes it six golds from eight World Cups, plus one bronze and only once missing the podium this season (in Val St. Come, Canada).
 
With just one World Cup remaining this season in China next week ahead of the World Championships in Spain on March 8, Britt’s dominance in ladies’ moguls is unassailable for the World Cup title and also a realistic chance to take out the Freestyle Skiing overall World Cup, which is determined across all Freestyle disciplines. 
 
Cox did not have today’s event all her own way – qualifying second and then again in the first final to Perrine Laffont from France.
 
However, by the medal round Cox was back on top scoring 78.57 to Laffont’s 78.36.
 
"Wow what a day and what a feeling to be on the top of the podium in Japan,” Cox said.
 
“This is my first time in Japan and I am amazed at how much the Japanese people love mogul skiing. It was so exciting having all the Japanese school kids cheering for us on the side of the course."

"I really wanted to pick up the intensity for the finals today, so I was really happy when I took a good chunk off my time in the finals. I think that's what got me to the top spot today."
 
Coach Steve ‘Des’ Desovich couldn’t be happier.  
 
"We are thrilled with Britt’s performance today as she was able to improve on each of her three runs throughout the day,” he said.
 
“Britt skied fast, jumped well and had very good turns to conclude a nice rounded performance between all three sectors. The conditions were tricky and it was a challenge due to changing weather and snow conditions but Britt adapted very well and advanced nicely throughout the day with no major errors."
 
The week-in week-out schedule for the mogul skiers could take its toll but the coach praised the fitness of Cox and the Australian squad for their continued success.
 
"It has been a long season thus far and we still have duals tomorrow and China next week - so really it just has to keep going whether you want a breather or not,” Desovich said.
 
“Britt’s improved strength and conditioning is really paying off at this time of the year and it’s nice to see her continue so strong"

Cox was joined in the first final by fellow Australians Jakara Anthony – who is headed to the Asian Winter Games next week, and Madii Himbury finishing 9th and 16th respectively.
 
"It's always fun when I have my Aussie girls in the finals with me, I'm stoked for Madii and Jakara today,” Cox said.

Matt Graham continued his strong form, finishing 5th. Graham is also enjoying a successful season, having been in the top six in the eight World Cups so far, collecting one gold and one silver along the way. Brodie Summers was the next placed Australian male making the first final and finishing 10th.
 
Other Australian results included Claudia Gueli 24th, Krystle Yin 28th, Rohan Chapman Davies 39th and James Matheson 41st.
 
The Dual Moguls will be competed tomorrow (Sunday) from 2.05pm. 

IMAGE: Britt Cox (middle) on top of the mogul skiing world for the sixth time this season in Tazawako, Japan. © IDone