Australian mogul skier Matt Graham has taken bronze in the FIS Word Cup event in Deer Valley, USA, his second medal of the season.
 
The 26-year-old from the NSW Central Coast stepped up his run in the super final to jump the highest degree of difficulty of his World Cup career, with a back double full (double twisting back somersault) on the top jump and d-spin 1080 (triple twisting off axis somersault) on the bottom air to score 84.44 points.
 
Graham made great progress on his jumping skills in October at the new world class Water Ramp facility known as the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre located at Brisbane’s Sleeman Sports Centre .
 
Taking the win was 2018 Olympic gold medallist Mikael Kingsbury of Canada on 88.10 points, with Frenchman Benjamin Cavet in second place with a score of 86.25.
 
“Very happy to come away with a podium today” said the 2018 Olympic silver medallist.
 
“It’s been a long wait between competitions and our team have been isolated in the North of Finland at Ruka for the past two months where it’s dark twenty hours of the day. However, we have had great training in Ruka so I felt very prepared for this World Cup and was hungry to get back in the start gate.
 
“The super final was hotly contested with all the best guys in the mix. “I performed a back-double-full off the top jump. This is something I worked a lot on over the Christmas and New Year break in Finland and it is the first time I have competed this level of DD (degree of difficulty) in a World Cup. I am happy with the way it turned out, but I still have plenty of room for improvement which is nice.
 
“We have duals tomorrow which will be fun and exciting. I placed first in duals in Sweden earlier this season, so I will be looking to use that momentum going into tomorrow's event.”
 
For Graham, the result marks the 17th major medal of his career (3 gold, 6 silver, 8 bronze).
 
After four events, Graham sits in fourth place on the World Cup standings, with teammate Brodie Summers in fifth after finishing in eight place in todays event.
 
In the women’s event, 2019 World Championship medallist Jakara Anthony had her highest placing of the season so far, finishing in sixth place.
 
The mogul athletes will be back in action tomorrow competing in the dual mogul World Cup in Deer Valley.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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