Australian 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, after bronze yesterday.
 
Today’s success 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.”
 
For Graham, the result marks the 18th major medal of his career (3 gold, 7 silver, 8 bronze).
 
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 in today’s event.
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was a stellar start to the 2019/2020 FIS World Cup season for 25 year old mogul skier, Britt Cox, with a third place podium at the opening FIS World Cup Women’s Moguls event in Ruka, Finland.

The three time Winter Olympian from Mt Beauty, Victoria, qualified fourth for the final where she came third with 77.78 out of a field of 12, securing a spot in the second final of six competitors. Cox then won her third place podium with a final score of 78.29, her sixteenth World Cup medal (9 gold, 1 silver, 6 bronze) to date.

“It feels so amazing, mogul skiing is my absolute passion” said Cox, Australia’s most successful women’s mogul skier, after her bronze win.

“It’s been a pretty tough 18 months to get back to skiing how I wanted to ski, there’s no other secret I think than hard work and showing up at training with the intention to give your best and just remembering why you do it, I do it because I love skiing. Every morning I wake up I’m grateful I get to do this as my job.”

Perrine Laffont (France) took gold and Anri Kawamura (Japan) took silver at the event while Australian Jakara Anthony also qualified for the final and finished in fifth place.

Olympian Claudia Gueli narrowly missed the 16-woman final in 17th place, and Sophie Ash finished 34th.

Australia’s PyeongChang silver medallist, Matt Graham, qualified third for the men’s mogul finals in Ruka and finished the event with a top 10 finish with ninth place. Other Australian results in the men's event were Cooper Woods-Topalovic with a personal best single moguls performance in 24th place, Brodie Summers 31st and James Matheson 43rd.

The Australian team will now travel to China for training before the Thaiwoo World Cup on December 14.  

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.

Australia's leading mogul skiers Jakara Anthony and Matt Graham have again performed strongly at the World Cup event in Tazawako, Japan, with the pair competing in single and dual mogul events.

The NSWIS athletes appeared across the two days of competition with Anthony achieving podiums in both her events and Graham finishing inside the top eight on each day.

On Saturday, Jakara Anthony secured her third straight spot on the World Cup podium with a silver medal performance in the single moguls, while Graham finished seventh.

Following the single moguls event, on Sunday the season’s second dual moguls competition saw Anthony claim bronze with Graham just missing out on the podium, finishing in fourth place.

Anthony was ecstatic with her podium appearances.

“I’m really happy to take back to back podiums here in Japan. I was really happy with my skiing today. I was backing it up from yesterday and putting down some really clean runs," Anthony said.

“Unfortunately in the semi-final I had a little slip up which put me into the small final which meant I didn’t get a chance to ski again but I still came away with a bronze medal and couldn’t be happier."

With Anthony currently ranked second in the overall World Cup standings, and Graham ranked fifth, Tazawako marked the end of the World Cup season for the pair, with the Australian program electing not to compete in next weekend's final World Cup events in Kazakhstan.

IMAGE - Jakara Anthony on the podium in Tazawako © FIS

Ski and Snowboard Australia / olympics.com.au

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 continued her best ever winter season at the Mont Tremblant World Cup in Canada with a silver medal.

20-year-old Anthony scored 75.08 to narrowly miss out on the gold medal which France’s Perrine Laffont won with a 75.51. Canada’s Justine Lapointe-Dufour won the bronze with 73.67, just in front of her sister Chloe in fourth.

Anthony has made the final of every event this season, and her third podium, which is a promising sign ahead of the 2019 World Championships, kicking off in Utah at the end of the week.

“I couldn’t be happier right now, backing up another podium from last week’s gold medal,” Anthony said.

“Now I’m really looking forward to World Championships in Deer Valley next week.”
Britt Cox also qualified for women’s finals, finishing 12th overall. Taylah O’Neill missed out on a spot in the final by one place, finishing 17th, Sophie Ash placed 20th and Claudia Gueli did not finish.
Matt Graham was once again the top placed Aussie in the men’s event, finishing in 4th place just missing the podium. Brodie Summers finished 21st, Rohan Chapman-Davies 26th, James Matheson 33rd and Cooper Woods-Topalovic 43rd.

IMAGE: Jakara Anthony (left) celebrates her second place finish on the Mont Tremlant podium © FIS

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

Jakara Anthony first became a household name when she narrowly missed out on a medal at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, placing fourth in Women’s Mogul Skiing.

Now the 20-year-old is cementing herself as one of the best in the world, having just won her first World Cup medal with silver in Thaiwoo, China over the weekend.

Anthony easily qualified for the first final in second place with a score of 83.74 in Saturday’s qualification round. She backed up her performance a few hours later to top the first final with a score of 82.71, before securing the silver medal in the 6-athlete Super Final with a score of 82.42.

She finished just behind USA’s Jaelin Kauf in gold on 83.08. France’s Perrine Laffont rounded out the podium on 81.23.

"I’m really happy with how I've been able to perform so far this season and especially today with getting my first World Cup podium in China,” Anthony said after the medal presentation.

“All the hard work and effort I've put in during the off season is paying off.

“For me, today was about getting repetition on the runs that I had put down in training in competition. I was able to put down three high quality runs and qualify in second and first for Final 1 and Final 2 respectively," Anthony continued.

“To then finish up in second place was a great way to wrap up the day! It was also a great day for the rest of the Team with James making his first super final and Britt and Matt joining me up top for the final.”

Nine-time World Cup gold medallist Britt Cox qualified for the first final, finishing 9th overall.

In the men’s, fellow Aussie Olympian James Matheson recorded the best result of his career so far, making his first Super Final and placing 6th overall. PyeongChang bronze medallist Matt Graham finished 13th and Rohan Chapman-Davies placed 21st.

While Graham didn't have an ideal performance, he was quick to congratulate his teammates on their success.
"Today didn't go too well for me, unfortunately. In the qualification round I missed the grab on my cork 720 which cost me, so I qualified in16th place for the finals," he said.

"From there it was going to take something amazing to ski up into the Super Final as the first skier to go down is often judged quite hard to set the standard. I ended up in 13th place which is a bit disaappointing as I know I have so much more in me.

"On a more positive note, Jakara skied out of her skin to finish second and got her first podium. She has worked really hard this off-season and everything is really starting to click for her so I am very happy for her," Graham continues.

"Also, Jimmy [James Matheson] skied awesome to make his first Super Final and finish 6th. I think he has a lot of potential and today he got rewarded for his clean turns and well executed jumps."

The Australian team all backed up their performances the next day for the head-to-head Dual Moguls World Cup.
Anthony had another strong day on the slopes, placing 5th in the women’s duals, and Cox placed 14th. Graham was the top placed male on Sunday, finishing 5th. Matheson placed 22nd and Chapman-Davies was 29th.

The team will have a break over Christmas before the World Cup season continues in Calgary, Canada on January 11.

Georgia Thompson
olympics.com.au

The opening Mogul Skiing World Cup of the season took place over the weekend in Ruka, Finland.

All Aussie women qualified for the finals with NSWIS athlete Jakara Anthony continuing her strong Olympic form with a fourth-place finish. Triple Olympian Britt Cox finished 10th and Taylah O'Neill placed 16th.

In the men’s competition, PyeongChang silver medallist Matt Graham was the top placed Aussie in 8th place and said that result was a decent start to the season, given the challenging circumstances.

“I thought today was a reasonable start to the season for me,” he said. “Last year didn't go well for me here so I wanted to get a good result to kick the season off on a positive note.

“We had quite a terrible preparation for this event with a lack of snow in Finland so it made it difficult to be at the level I needed to be at to compete against the best guys.

“With the lack of snow and training due to a sore shin, I am happy to come away with the result I got. I changed up my jump package adding a cork 720 grab on the top jump for the first time which was a nice change and I think will help me throughout the season with the added degree of difficulty.”

Sochi 2014 Olympian Brodie Summers, who was forced to withdraw from competition at PyeongChang at the eleventh hour after he re-injured his knee, made his successful return to competition, qualifying for the finals and placing 14th overall.

PyeongChang Olympians Rohan Chapman-Davies placed 27th and James Matheson finished 33rd.

The Mogul Team now head to China for the second World Cup event in Thaiwoo on December 15 and 16.

Georgia Thompson
olympics.com.au

FREESTYLE SKI: Milestones and more were par for the course for Australia’s freestyle skiing athletes at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

Sixteen Australians were in action across aerials, moguls, ski cross and ski slopestyle, and the Aussies were setting records before stepping on the snow.

Aerials Olympic gold medallist Lydia Lassila became the first woman to compete at five Winter Olympic Games, the achievement followed two Winter Olympic Games where she claimed medals, becoming Olympic Champion in 2010 before she won bronze at Sochi 2014.

In Moguls, the 2018 Games marked the first time Australia had four men and four women at an Olympics. In doing so, Australia and Canada were the only nations to have full representation at the Moguls competition.

Moguls athletes got Australia’s 2018 Olympic Winter Games campaign underway and the women were up first. On Olympic debut, 19-year-old Jakara Anthony was exceptional as she claimed fourth in the super final. Three-time Olympian Britt Cox was fifth.

“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," Anthony said.

Madii Himbury progressed from the second qualification round and finished 20th, while fellow debutant Claudia Gueli finished 23rd.

A day later and in the men’s moguls, Matt Graham put Australia on the medal tally with a stunning silver medal winning performance. Graham was consistently consistent through qualifying and finals, and put down one of the best runs of his life to finish second behind Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury.

"It was amazing putting down that final run which was my best run of the night. I knew when I saw the score I was going to be on the podium,” Graham said.

Olympic rookie James Matheson finished 14th while teammate Rohan Chapman-Davies finished 22nd. Having flared up his ACL injury during training, Summers chose not to risk further injury and did not line up for the event.

"Wasn’t an easy decision that’s for sure,” Summers said.

“Definitely emotional. As soon as I made the call everybody in my team told me ‘you’ve made a smart decision and you’ve reduced your risk for getting yourself right for world championships next year.’”

At the Aerials, all eyes were on five-time Olympian Lydia Lassila and her final Olympics performance.

The 36-year-old narrowly missed the final and finished 14th.

"This is an outside sport and you can't control a lot of things and tonight I just couldn't control the speed," Lassila said.

With an Olympic career spanning nearly two decades, Lassila said she was disappointed with her final Winter Games performance.

"It's a feeling of loss in a way ... you've lost an opportunity but that's sport and you've got to reflect on the good and happy moments that I've had with my kids, my family, my friends -- life is good," she said.

Results were mixed in the women’s event, with Laura Peel and Danielle Scott advancing to the finals and Samantha Wells exiting at the qualifying round, finishing in 17th place.

In the Super Final, Peel attempted a Back Double Full-Full where she over-rotated and then back-slapped on her landing. She finished fifth.

“My goal was to make the top six, the Super Final, and I did that,” Peel said.

“We did our best out there. I had a huge group of supporters in the crowd so I was definitely feeling the love.”

Needing to be in the top nine to progress from Final 1 to Final 2, Scott backslapped while attempting a Back Full-Full to finish the competition in 12th.

In the men’s event, David Morris secured a start in the final after finishing the second qualification round in second place.

He performed a Back Full – Double Full – Full, to claim 10th overall.

Morris was pleased with the jump he put down but the field produced high scoring jumps. The leader, Guangpu Qi of China was awarded 127.44 for his execution of the same trick.

“We tried our best, it is what it is. Tenth is a pretty sweet result and I’m happy with that,” Morris said.

“We’re in an Olympic final so that’s awesome and this competition is top class so even to be here is quite the privilege.”

In the days leading into the men’s ski slopestyle, dual Olympian Russ Henshaw struggled to walk up stairs, but that didn’t stop the 27-year old from putting down two solid runs.

Having injured his knee less than a month ago, Henshaw said he was happy just to make it to the start gate.
He finished 19th in qualifying, putting him out of contention for a place in the final.

“Just being in that start gate about to drop, to get there after all I’ve been through over the last two weeks was a surreal feeling in itself,” Henshaw said.

There were mixed results at the Ski Cross after Anton Grimus fractured his collarbone and Sami Kennedy-Sim advanced to the small final and finished eighth overall.

27-year-old Grimus suffered a crash during his seeding run and went into the finals with a sore shoulder. He went on to finish fourth in his round of eight heat.

Dual Olympian Sami Kennedy-Sim recorded her best result of the 2017/18 season.

"That was a solid battle and it's a step up for me and the best result that I've had all season," Kennedy-Sim said.

"To be one of the top girls in the world, that's sick and I hope that I can get other kids to come and have a crack, it's super fun!"

Michelle Cook
olympics.com.au

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