For the first time since 2010, Australia has returned to the top of the medal dais at the Winter Olympics with Jakara Anthony taking gold in the women's moguls.

The 23-year-old, who finished 4th in her Olympic debut four years ago, totally dominated the whole event, and claimed the gold medal with a score of 83.09, a staggering 2.81 points ahead of the second placed Jaelin Kauf of the USA.

In claiming the gold medal, it becomes the first time in Winter Olympic history that Australia has claimed multiple medals on the same day, following Tess Coady's bronze medal in the snowboard slopestyle earlier in the day.

It was an incredibly calm performance from the Australian, who controlled the contest from start to finish, leading after every qualification round, with every score in the 80's.

Anthony is the first Australian to claim a gold medal at the Winter Olympics since Lydia Lassila in the aerials in 2010. Lassila was on hand in Beijing working for Channel 7 to witness Anthony's golden performance and welcomed her to the elite club of six Australians who have won Winter Olympic gold.

"It's just incredible, the hard work does pay off!" a jubilant Jakara said after her golden run.

"It's been a dream of mine my whole life to be an Olympic champion, actually I don't think I've ever stopped dreaming about it."

And while Australian fans were on the edge of their seats as the Super Final got underway, underneath that Australian unfirm was a picture of calmness and control.

"I pay zero attention to what the other scores are, in fact, I don't even know what my score was, all I saw was the number one after my name!"

Jakara was quick to pay tribute to her fellow teammates and her support crew for keeping her calm and focused in the lead up to the Games, and then throughout competition.

"It's a testament to myself and the work of the team around me. Not only does it make me a better athlete, but a better person as well."

Earlier, Britt Cox and Sophie Ash were unable to advance to the final 12, finishing 14th and 16th respectively with scores of 73.04 and 70.47.

For Cox, it ended her 4th Olympic campaign, having made her debut as a 15-year-old in Vancouver in 2010.

The self-confessed ‘mother hen‘ of the Australian team was philosophical after her run in the final 20.

"To be honest, I didn't feel it was my best run of the night. I feel like my final training run just before that one was my best run that I did all night, and for that I'm actually really proud," Britt said.

And Cox was circumspect as to whether she'll stay in the sport after an already glittering career.

"I don't know. I said to myself, 'I'm not going to make any decisions until after the event here', and I guess that time has come, so I have a little bit of thinking to do.

"At the moment, my passion for the sport couldn't be stronger and I just have so much fire in the belly still and love the sport. It's just a matter of how much more my body can keep going," Britt said.

While Sophie Ash enjoyed every moment of her first Olympic Games.

"Everyone is just putting down quality at every run," Sophie said.

"I'm really happy to have made the last 20, it was an awesome experience and I wanted to see how far I could go.

"There's always stuff to improve on and that's my job now.

olympics.com.au
Damian Kelly

Cooper Woods has announced his arrival as a top international mogul skier with an incredible 6th place finish in freezing and blustery conditions at the Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park.

The 21-year-old, who hails from Pambula Beach on the NSW South Coast, scored a highly impressive 78.88 in a red-hot men's final, with Sweden's Walter Wallberg upsetting pre-event favourite Canadian Mikael Kingsbury to take gold with a score of 83.23.

Cooper produced his best score of the night at the end in the super final, after working his way up through last chance qualifying, the final 20, the final 12 and eventually the final six in the cutthroat format.

In making the final six, Cooper joined Dale Begg-Smith (2006 & 2010) and Matt Graham (2018) as the only Australian men to make the a moguls super final.

"Oh wow, what a night," a jubilant Cooper said following his final run.

"It was a star-struck moment at the start of the super final actually.

"This is what I've been working towards, and I just stuck to the plan and look what happened.

"I'm really proud of what I did out there, I'm just so happy."

Cooper's teammate Brodie Summers also put in outstanding performances to finish 10th, which marked the first time two Australians had reached the 12-man final together.

The top-10 achieve for Brodie, a triple Olympian, was his best finish in Olympic competition which beats a 13th place at Sochi in 2014.

Earlier in the evening, 2018 silver medallist Matt Graham was unable to advance to the final 20 after a challenging second run, which followed his DNF in the opening qualifying round.

Matt showed enormous courage just to make the start line in Beijing, having fractured his collarbone in December 2021. 

In an emotional state post-competition, Matt refused to blame the injury on his performance.

"I don't think it stopped my performance. I just wish I could have done better," Matt said while fighting back tears.

"It's so tough to describe how I'm feeling, but this hurts more than the collarbone.

"I know I put pressure on myself after not finishing on Thursday, but I felt I was handling it really well, I just know I had so much more to give."

James Matheson was able to improve on his opening round performance with a score of 73.20, however the score was not enough to see him move through to the last 20.

A two-time Olympian, James announced his retirement from the sport following the competition and mentioned that father time has caught up with him.

"It's a young man and young lady's sport, the body just can't keep going," James said.

He will leave the sport knowing the future is incredibly bright.

"Moguls is an individual sport, but we are an incredible close-knit team. I get to watch people I regard as family keep competing, which is pretty good."

Geoff Lipshut, Chef De Mission of the Beijing 2022 Australian Winter Olympic Team, paid tribute to James' career and character.

"James is a model high performance athlete and student. He successfully balanced sport and studies and proudly represented his country at two Olympic Games," Mr Lipshut said.

"James has always been the nicest of nice guys in the mogul program and the best of teammates."

In an emotional night for Australia's moguls team, Taylah O'Neill also announced her retirement after a knee injury curtailed her capacity to compete in Beijing.

Mr Lipshut acknowledged the contribution the 27-year-old has made to Australian mogul skiing.

"Taylah is a credit to herself and sport. After skiing at the 2014 Games, Taylah had a run of injuries which saw her miss 2018, and another difficult injury journey to 2022.

"Taylah had always been a great teammate and contributor on and off the snow."

The attention now turns to the Jakara Anthony, Britt Cox and Sophie Ash in the women's moguls on Sunday. Sophie will hope to use qualifying at 9pm AEDT to join Jakara and Britt in the final from 10:30pm AEDT.

olympics.com.au
Damian Kelly

Jakara Anthony has continued her amazing start to the season winning double World Cup gold in Alpe d'Huez, France.
 
Fresh from Friday’s victory in the single moguls, Anthony was dominant throughout the duals to claim her first dual moguls World Cup gold medal. The win also extends her lead in the World Rankings, with Anthony to remain in the yellow leaders bib going into the next World Cup event in Canada in January.
 
In the gold medal dual Anthony faced off against Russian Anastasiia Smirnova. With 35 points from the judges up for grabs, Anthony took the win by just one point with a score of 18 to 17 with Anthony’s superior jumps and turns getting her the victory.
 
“There were a lot of tight duals today, and I am just out there skiing my run and hoping that puts me through every round” said the 23-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
 
“It’s very exciting to have the yellow bib, this is the first season I have managed to get hold of it, so I am excited to be heading into the next World Cup’s with it.”
 
Teammate Britt Cox registered another solid performance in ninth place.
 
The mogul skiing and snowboard cross athletes will now have a break before their World Cup tours resume in January.

Jakara Anthony has continued her amazing start to the season, winning the second World Cup mogul skiing gold medal of her career overnight in Alpe d'Huez, France.
 
Anthony has now podiumed in all four events to start the season, extending her lead as number one on the World Cup rankings.
 
In a dominant display, Anthony placed first in all three stages of the event, scoring a massive 85.07 points in the super final to finish over eight points ahead of second place finisher Anri Kawamura of Japan with a score of 77.21 points, with American Tess Johnson taking home the bronze medal with 76.63 points.
 
Australian teammate, 2017 World Champion Britt Cox also reached the super final, finishing in a season’s best fourth place, with a score of 76.20, just missing the podium by .44 points.
 
“It was so incredible, my first win of the season, my second win ever, and the first time I have every placed first in every round of the event,” said the 23-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
 
“I am so keen to get back on the course tomorrow, it’s so much fun, the moguls require such technical skiing and it’s just so great to get out there and ski it every day.”
 
Brodie Summers also had an impressive performance, narrowly missing the men’s super-final in seventh place.
 
The mogul skiing athletes will be back in action tomorrow night competing in the dual mogul event in Alpe d'Huez.

Jakara Anthony has made it three straight podiums to start the World Cup season, with a bronze medal overnight in the dual moguls in Idre Fjäll, Sweden.
 
The podium result is the sixth by Australia over the weekend, with a gold and silver medal to Danielle Scott and Laura Peel in the aerials, Belle Brockhoff silver in snowboard cross, silver to Bree Walker in monobob and two bronze medals for Anthony. A personal best was also achieved by Australia in the two-woman bobsleigh, with pilot Bree Walker and brakewoman Kiara Reddingius equalling our best ever result in the sport with a seventh place performance in their first event as a team.
 
Anthony’s first dual came in the quarter-final round against Kai Owens of the USA. With judges scoring the event out of 35 points, Anthony advanced to the next round with a 20-15 advantage.
 
In the semi-final round, Anthony had a difficult match up against 2018 Olympic Gold Medallist Perrine Laffont of France, with Laffont taking the win with a score of 21-14.
 
In the dual for the bronze medal, Anthony comfortably took the win against American Olivia Giaccio with a score of 26-9 to record the 12th World Cup medal of her career.
 
“It’s incredible to go back to back at the same event, it’s been a while since I have had the opportunity to do that” said the 23-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
 
“It was really tight duals all day long in the whole women’s field, you just had to get in there and go for it in that middle section, it was pretty tricky in there, so you just had to run it.
 
Also in action for Australia was Britt Cox in 14th, Sophie Ash 19th, James Matheson 23rd, Taylah O’Neill 29th, Cooper Woods, 28th, Madii Himbury 34th and Brodie Summers 41st.
 
The dual moguls format sees competitors face off side by side on parallel mogul runs, with the winner progressing to the next round.
 
The mogul skiing athletes will now head to France for a double event in Alpe d'Huez next weekend.
 
Anthony currently sits in first place in World Cup standings for the single moguls Olympic format and will wear the yellow leaders’ bib for the first time Alpe d'Huez.

Jakara Anthony has made a great start to her Olympic campaign, taking home the silver medal at the opening FIS mogul skiing World Cup event overnight in Ruka, Finland.
 
Anthony qualified for finals in third place with a score of 74.71, and stepped it up in finals, performing her new d-spin 720 jump on the top air for the first time in competition to advance to the super final medal round with an improved score of 78.45 in second place.
 
In the top-six medal round, Anthony put down another great run to score 78.17, just 0.34 points behind event winner Olivia Giaccio of the USA, with her teammate Kai Owens rounding out the podium in third place.
 
“This is my first podium in Ruka, so I am very excited about that” said the 23-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
 
“I have come very close before a couple of times, but this is the first time I have sealed the deal which is great.”
 
“There has been a lot of hard work that has gone into this last year especially, and all the years before that, and I am just spoked to see it paying off.”
 
The performance marks the tenth World Cup podium of her career (1 gold, 7 silver, 2 bronze).
 
In the men’s event, Brodie Summers and Matt Graham had a strong start to the season finishing in the top-10. In finals, Summers came just short of advancing to the medal round in seventh place, with Graham in tenth.
 
Just missing  finals for Australia were Britt Cox in 18th place, James Matheson 22nd, Cooper Woods 23rd, Taylah O’Neill 25th and Sophie Ash 27th.
 
The mogul skiing athletes will now head to Sweden for a double event at the Idre Fjäll ski resort next weekend.

IMAGES © Chris Hocking/OWIA

NSWIS mogul skier 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

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

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

A nasty stomach virus, which required a hospital admission on Tuesday night, did not keep mogul skier Matt Graham from reaching his fourth podium in the second World Cup events in Deer Valley, Utah today.
 
Graham picked up the bronze medal behind Canada’s Mikhail Kingsbury and Kazakhstan’s Dmitry Reikherd, repeating a photo that has seen the three same men on the podium together in Calgary and Thaiwoo this season.  
 
Yesterday’s first World Cup saw a brave Graham put mind over matter to make the final 16 before bowing out of the first round of Finals in 13th. Another 24 hours was all it took for the world number three to sufficiently recover and deliver another consistent run.
 
“Coming from Calgary I picked up a pretty bad stomach virus on travel day and for the last few days I’ve been in the wars,” Graham said after being hospitalised for three hours on Tuesday night for intravenous treatment. 
 
“A lot of people of people telling me to take it easy and take the day off,” he said of the first World Cup. “I listened to my body and knew what I could do.”
 
“Yesterday in the start gate in the final, I had a big pain in my tummy and it took very ounce of resilience. I did make a mistake on the last jump.” 
 
“(Today) I was in a lot of pain, but it was better this afternoon. I wasn’t sure if I was going to compete until thirty minutes before the event. I mustered the energy.”
 
“The top guys had a great run too and to be up against those guys was special given the circumstance.  It was the icing on the cake.”
 
“For sure it’s worth it now,” he said.
 
“We have a week off now and I can recover then come out firing in the final event in Tremblant (Canada) before PyeonChang.”
 
World Champion Britt Cox has faced stiff competition this season and did so again today, coming away with a fourth place in the second Deer Valley World Cup after missing the Super Final yesterday.
 
Undeterred, Cox says she on track and feeling good.
 
“Really close to the podium tonight so I’m happy with my skiing but there’s definitely more in the tank and more that I need to do but happy to be in the mix in the super final tonight,” she said.
 
“I’m happy that I progressed through the rounds today - skied better in each round and my skiing is moving in a positive direction. I’m determined that I’m focussed on doing the work that needs to be done.”
 
Jakara Anthony, who reached her first Super Final yesterday placing 5th overall was again in good form today, qualifying into the top 16 and then coming 12th.
 
Other Australian results today included Taylah O’Neill placing 17th in the qualifying in an unlucky tie break situation to not make the final 16, Claudia Gueli 26th, Madii Himbury 36th, Krystle Yin 38th and Sophie Ash 48th. In the Men, James Matheson placed 44th, Cooper Woods-Topalovic 48th and Rohan Chapman-Davies DNF.
 
The final World Cup before the PyeongChang Games will be held in Tremblant, Canada on January 20th.
 
Belinda Noonan
OWIA

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

Australian teenager Britteny Cox finished fifth in the Moguls final at Extreme Park on Saturday night. In doing so, she became the most successful Australian female Moguls skier of all time.

“Incredible. That’s the skiing that I needed to do tonight. That final round of 12 was some of the best skiing I’ve ever done. I had a lot of fun on that Moguls course,” Cox said.

“It definitely feels like a win. These are happy tears right now.”

The 19-year-old admits she struggled a bit in the qualifications, but fought hard to get into the super-final.

In her final run, Cox pulled off a clean 360 on the first jump, picked up some speed in her turns through the middle, but then wobbled the landing of her backflip.

“A little bit overcooked on the bottom air which probably cost me a few points there, but I’m happy because I pushed the limits and personally that’s a big step and big hurdle for me,” she said.

The two-time Olympian is already looking forward to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.

“In Moguls skiing, anything can happen especially when you’re down to that final six and the girls are just really pushing it. I could have been in there, on the podium, but I’m happy with my skiing tonight and really excited for what I can do in the future.”

Canadian sisters Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe went 1-2, with defending Olympic Champion Hannah Kearney (USA) claiming Bronze.

Cox’s teammates Nicole Parks and Taylah O’Neill both had fantastic Olympic debuts to progress from qualifying to Final 1 where they finished 15th and 16th. To reach the top 20 finals was a goal of the pair and they delivered.

Emily Groves | sochi2014.olympics.com.au

Australian Institute of Sport/NSW Institute of Sport mogul skier Brodie Summers finished 12th today in the last event before the Sochi Olympic Winter Games qualification cut-off date, enhancing his chances of being selected in Australia’s team.

The result in Val St Come, Canada, created a new World Cup personal best for the Australian, improving his previous highest finish by six places.

The event was a Canadian first and second for Alex Bilodeau and Mikael Kingsbury with American Bradley Wilson third.

The 12th place lifts Summers’ world ranking to 28, seven places higher than before the Canadian event.

Summers progressed to his first final of the season, for the top 16 athletes from the qualification session, before delivering a run in the first final that was solid across turns, jumps and speed, but was not strong enough to put him in the six man super-final.

Summers, along with two other Australians who competed in Val St Come – Sam Hall, an AIS/NSWIS scholarship holder and Taylah O’Neill, an NSWIS athlete - will immediately rejoin other AIS/NSWIS squad members Matt Graham, Dale Begg-Smith, Nicole Parks and Britt Cox, at a training camp in the United States to fine tune their preparation for Sochi, which starts February 7.

While O’Neill was unable to qualify for the women’s final, she was 21st today, and Hall was 38th.

The women’s event was a one-two for Canadian sisters Chloe Dufour-Lapointe and Justine Dufour-Lapointe while Japan’s Junko Hoshino was the bronze medallist.

Australia’s seven member mogul skiing squad will compete in a World Cup in Calgary, Canada, on Sunday (Australian time).

Teenage Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport athletes Britt Cox and Matt Graham go into the event after finishing fourth in the first event of the season in Ruka, Finland, in December.

However, Cox and Graham will not be the only points of interest in the Aussie squad.

Australia’s most successful winter Olympian, Dale Begg-Smith, is competing for only the second time since 2010.

Begg-Smith demonstrated his enormous talent in Ruka by finishing in fifth, which was highly impressive given his lengthy absence from competition.

Fellow AIS / NSWIS athletes Nicole Parks, Brodie Summers, Sam Hall and NSWIS skier Taylah O’Neill are all approaching the busy competition schedule, five World Cup events in 16 days, with a high level of confidence.

The squad has been training at the Colorado resort of Steamboat in the United States since competing in Finland.

The AIS Mogul Skiing program undertook a wide range of activities during July to October covering strength and conditioning, water jumping, on snow training and altitude camps.

Matt Graham, Sam Hall, Brodie Summers and Britt Cox took part in water ramp camps in Park City, UT, USA, with AIS Mogul Aerial Coach Jerry Grossi. The camps were very successful with noticeable gains for many of the athletes in their degree of difficulty and jump execution.

After the Park City camp, training took place on the world class Toppa’s Dream mogul course at Perisher.

The National Mogul Championships took place at Perisher and saw Matt Graham successfully defend his title with two wins in two days of competition. AIS/NSWIS Scholarship holder Sam Hall finished second overall with a sixth and a third through day one and two of competition. In the women’s event Nicole Parks and Britt Cox placed third and fourth respectively, over the two days. In a very promising sign for the future, NSWIS scholarship holder Taylah O’Neill was the best placed Australian finishing second overall.

In a further sign of depth within the Australian team, Olympic hopefuls and AIS/NSWIS scholarship athletes Brodie Summers and Nicole Parks won the James Boag’s ABOM Mogul Challenge at Mt Buller. It was the second ABOM victory of Nicole’s career and the first for Brodie.

An altitude camp was held at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra in September to prepare the athletes for an on snow training camp in Zermatt, Switzerland. The altitude camp at the AIS has proven to be very beneficial, with the athlete’s performing well in training on the Zermatt glacier.

After the Zermatt camp, athletes will take part in another camp at the AIS in Canberra and a water ramp camp during November at the SSA facility in Melbourne. This will be the final training activity in Australia before the team heads to Ruka, Finland, to commence their northern hemisphere winter campaign.

Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport mogul skier Sam Hall has placed the best of the Australian athletes in the dual mogul event in Deer Valley, USA.

Hall’s 18th place was a World Cup career best result for the Perisher based athlete since debuting in February 2009.

He was unlucky not to qualify for the final, missing the 16-man cut by just 0.7 of a point.

Australia's highest ranked mogul skiers, Britteny Cox and Matthew Graham, both 18-years-olds, finished 19th and 23rd respectively.

Cox’s desire to make her fourth final from six starts suffered from a lower than preferred score with turns, however, she can be pleased that her speed down the hill, one of the areas she has been working on this year, was impressive.

Fellow AIS / NSWIS skier Nicole Parks also had a tough day in 34th, while NSWIS athlete Taylah O’Neill did not finish.

Talented Australian teenagers Matt Graham and Britt Cox both recorded top 10 finishes in World Cup mogul skiing at Deer Valley, in the United States.

It was a World Cup personal best for Graham, who is competing in his first full season in the northern hemisphere series, as well as the first time this year that Australia was represented in the men’s and women’s finals at a World Cup level.

Graham’s 10th place in the massive field of 73 competitor saw the Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport athlete’s world ranking jump 13 places to 23.

Cox also finished in 10th, her third top 10 after five rounds of competition.

Cox and Graham have the opportunity to back up these results and further build their seasons when they compete in dual moguls at Deer Valley in two days.

Graham finished behind Canadian duo Mikael Kingsbury and Alex Bilodeau in first and second, with American Patrick Deneen taking the other podium placing.

The women’s event was an all American podium finish, with Hannah Kearney, Heather McPhie and Eliza Outrim finishing in first, second and third places.

Cox, ranked 8th in the world, said that her impressive results this season are directly linked to becoming a more consistent skier.

“Today I had a really clean run but I have more in the tank for Saturday and I’m looking for another top 10,” Cox said.

“My skiing across the board is a lot more consistent so I have been able to improve each element of my skiing which has meant that I have been able to get into a few more finals and a few more top 10 finishes.

“This season is going well for me.”

Graham said that finishing 10th has reinforced his belief that he can challenge the world’s best mogul skiers.

“I am really happy with my result today,” he said.

“To achieve better results each week has been one of my main goals this season.

“I’ve been trying to improve all my tricks and I think today’s result showed that.”

“I have thought for a while that I can compete with these guys and today showed it.”

Other Australian results included Nicole Parks, 23rd, Sam Hall 31st, Rohan Chapman-Davies 32nd, James Matheson 34th and Brodie Summers 52nd.

Australian teenager Matt Graham recorded a World Cup season best 19th place in the moguls event in Calgary, Canada.

The result was the Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport athlete’s highest World Cup finish since February of last year.

In his first full season of World Cup competition, Graham has shown steady improvement through the four events contested so far, showing signs that his hard work under the guidance of AIS mogul skiing program head coach Steve Desovich is starting to repaying him.
Graham’s qualification score of 65.43 meant that he missed the cut for the 16 man final by three places.

Canadian Mikael Kingsbury won, while Russian Alexandr Smyshlyaev was second and Japan’s Sho Endo was third.

In the women’s event, AIS / NSWIS skier Britt Cox retains her place in the world’s top 10 rankings despite ending the day also in 19th and missing the finals for the first time since the season opener on December 15.

Cox, 18, was the highest finishing Australian woman with NSWIS athlete Taylah O’Neill, 18, enjoying her best World Cup result, 21stplace.

AIS / NSWIS skier Nicole Parks came 29th.

The women’s event saw a Canadian one-two with Justine Dufour-Lapointe and sister Chloe Dufour-Lapointe with American Eliza Outtrim in third place.

Eighteen-year-old Australian Britteny Cox scored a podium finish in World Cup moguls skiing in Lake Placid in the United States today.

The third place is the sixth podium finish by Australian skiers and snowboarders since last Saturday, continuing the impressive World Cup results by local athletes.

For Cox, an Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport scholarship holder, today’s third place is the second time the talented teenager has risen to a World Cup podium.

The event was won by current Winter Olympic Games gold medallist Hannah Kearney from the United States, with the Czech Replublic’s Nikola Sudova, a two-time World Championship place getter, finishing second.

Cox edged out fourth placed athlete, Canadian Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, who finished second in the last World Championships.

The bronze medal result pushes Cox’s ranking to fifth in the world.

After earning a place in the final 12 with the sixth best qualifying score, the tenacity of the hard working Australian kicked into gear, enabling her to put pressure on her more experienced opponents.

She finished in sixth place in the first final, which earned a place in the medal round for the best six athletes of the day.

Cox, who started the season with goals to improve her speed down the hill, enhance jumps and lift her physical conditioning, proved today that her hard work has paid handsome dividends.

AIS mogul skiing program head coach Steve Desovich, a career coach with 23 years’ experience, said he has never seen an athlete with a stronger work ethic than Cox.

“I cannot say I know what every athlete does in training but from what I have seen, I have never seen a harder worker, more diligent athlete than Britt,” Desovich said.

He said he was both “thrilled” yet a little surprised that Cox had made it to the podium again at this stage of her career.

“With the things we are working on for the longer term, we didn’t expect Britt to get another podium so quickly,” he admitted.

Desovich paid particular praise to NSW winter sports senior sport scientist John Marsden and AIS mogul and aerial skiing coach Jerry Grossi, who have combined to enable Cox’s work ethic to achieve the significant improvement she has shown since last season.

“The work that John Marsden and Jerry Grossi have done has given Britt even better turns and jumps than last year and will enable her to get the very best out of herself,” Desovich said.

Cox’s fellow AIS / NSWIS athlete Nicole Parks finished in 22nd, one place behind another Aussie, Taylah O’Neill.

In the men’s event AIS / NSW athlete Matt Graham, 18, achieved his best World Cup result of the season when he finished 25th.

Australian teenagers Matt Graham and Britt Cox continued their domination of the James Boag’s ABOM Mogul Challenge by winning at Victoria’s Mt Buller today.

Graham finished ahead of Korea’s Jae-Woo Choi and Australia’s Brodie Summers while Cox was joined on the podium by fellow Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport skier Nicole Parks and NSWIS athlete Taylah O’Neill.

Graham, the winner of the last three ABOMs and Cox, who won the last two years, went into today’s dual mogul competition, the 24th year of the event, as red-hot favourites and more than lived up to expectation.

By winning her third ABOM, Cox joins another Australian, Maria Despas, as the only women to have won the nation’s longest running mogul ski event on three occasions.

With win number four, only one other male athlete has won the event more times than Graham – Australian Nick Cleaver, who amassed five victories between 1991 and 1995.

The event has become an annual tradition for the 18-year-old AIS / NSWIS athletes who both first entered the ABOM event as 10-year-olds.

Their emerging careers have both followed similar paths since – both were awarded AIS/NSWIS scholarships for the first time in 2010, they made their World Cup debuts in the same year and this season has seen them balancing HSC school studies with continuing their quest to represent Australia at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games.

The win shows that Graham and Cox are maturing as mentally tough athletes, given that they were competing against impressive fields and went into today’s event with significantly less on-snow training this winter.

Both have cut back the amount of on snow training during the Australian winter to spend more time on school studies.

Graham admitted that he has spent about 50 percent less time on snow this winter, compared with previous years, so winning his fourth ABOM has provided additional satisfaction.

“I felt a little bit of pressure today but I made sure that my approach was the same as usual,” Graham said.

“It involves making sure I remain mentally calm, putting down a solid run and don’t overdo it.

”Winning today was very satisfying as the ABOM is a special event for everybody who competes in it.”

Cox, a World Cup medalist in the USA last February, said that the win was the perfect way to bounce back from a fourth and sixth place at last month’s National Championships in Perisher.

“I’m so excited and really pleased to win today,” Cox said.

She added that the win shows the specific training direction Cox has taken this winter is paying dividends, particularly with newly found speed, resulting from a great deal of strength work in the gym and a more aggressive approach to competition.

New South Wales Institute of Sport mogul athletes have posted strong results in two days of competition at the Nor-Am event at Apex Mountain in BC, Canada.

The highlight for the team came on day two’s dual mogul event, with Rohan Chapman-Davies qualifying in second place, Brodie Summers third place, Taylah O’Neill in fourth and Emma Chapman-Davies in 13th.

In the duals Rohan Chapman-Davies was unfortunately eliminated in the first round to finish ninth, Brodie Summers won his first dual but was eliminated in the second round to finish in fifth.

Taylah O’Neil and team-mate Emma Chapman-Davies were matched up in the women’s first round, with Taylah emerging victorious. Taylah then won her next dual before going down to eventual winner Andi Naude of Canada in the semi-finals and ended up in fourth place.Emma Chapman-Davies finished the event ranked 13th.

The results by Taylah and Brodie were personal best Nor-Am finishes.

On day one, three athletes made finals, with Taylah O’Neill in11th place, Emma Chapman-Davies 12th and Brodie Summers in 14th. Rohan Chapman-Davies missed qualifying for finals by one place, finishing in 17th.

Val St. Come Nor-Am
After the Apex event, the NSWIS team headed east to Quebec, Canada, for a Nor-Am competition in Val St.Come.

On a challenging course, the leading Australian performance again came from female athletes Emma Chapman-Davies, Taylah O'Neill and Madii Himbury who all recorded finals performances over the two days of competition in 10th, 12th and 14th place respectively.

The male athletes in the team struggled with the tough conditions, with David Graham recording his best performance of the Nor-Am tour, finishing in 20th place in the Dual Moguls.

The NSWIS program now heads to Killington, Vermont, USA, for the final Nor-Am mogul event of the international season.

The New South Wales Institute of Sport and SSA Sub Development mogul teams have competed in the opening Nor-Am event of the northern winter in Telluride, CO, USA.

The highlights included three different athletes recording a finals performance, achieved by NSWIS scholarship holders Brodie Summers, Rohan Chapman-Davies and Taylah O’Neill.

On day one of competition, Brodie Summers had an outstanding performance for the first run qualifying in first place for the final. Unfortunately Brodie was carrying too much speed in the final and had to pull out of the line before the bottom jump, finishing in 15th place.

Rohan Chapman-Davies and Taylah O’Neill finished up the highest ranked Australians, both finishing in 8th place. Other athlete performances on day one were Maddi Himbury in 19th, David Graham 23rd, Emma Chapman-Davies 26th, Kate Blamey 37th, Campbell Cooke 41st, Jake Ashton 42nd, Josh Himbury 46th and James Campbell in 52nd.

On day two of competition Brodie Summers and Rohan Champan-Davies again qualified for finals, with Rohan again finishing the highest ranked Australian in ninth place and Brodie in 16th.

Other Australian performance on day two were Maddi Himbury in 23rd, Emma Chapman-Davies 25th, David Graham 26th, Jake Ashton 29th, Kate Blamey 33rd, Campbell Cooke 34th, Taylah O'Neill 38th, Josh Himbury 46th and James Campbell 50th.

Both teams now head to Apex, BC, Canada, for two more days of Nor-Am competition.

Promising teenager Matt Graham had his moment in the spotlight just before the World Cup season ended for the AIS mogul skiing program.

Competing in the World Cup dual moguls event at the American resort of Deer Valley today, Graham qualified for the finals in 17th place, won his dual in the first elimination round against Finland's Jussi Penttala before going down in the second final to current Olympic gold medalist Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau.

Graham’s 14th overall place was a personal best in World Cup competition and provided the perfect way to end his season, which started last November.

The result will also provide the perfect motivation for the Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport, Perisher-based athlete to capitalise on a tough off season training campaign in Australia, due to start after the team enjoys a brief break.

The event was won by Russian Sergey Volkov, Canadian Mikael Kingsbury finished second and third went to Russia’s Andrey Volkov.

In the women’s event, 17-year-old, Britt Cox, added an 11th place to her outstanding season, which reached its peak 48 hours ago when she claimed her first World Cup medal by finishing the individual moguls event, also at Deer Valley, in third place.

Cox qualified very strongly in sixth place with another excellent performance today but unfortunately the AIS/NSWIS athlete’s event finished in the first final when she made a mistake and fell before the top jump against American KC Oakley.

The event was won by the Olympic Champion American Hannah Kearney, with Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe in second place while American Heather McPhie finished third.

AIS mogul skiing head coach Steve Desovich has already started the season evaluation and not surprisingly has been very happy with the improvement made by Cox this season. However, he is quick to add that he is hopeful the teenager has much bigger achievements ahead.

He cites Cox’s enormous improvement with jumps and significant gains with speed as the two factors which have brought about her rise up the world rankings this season.

“For Britt until Friday the season was good, but with that podium her season is excellent,” Desovich said.

“There is no way we could have forecasted that she would be on the podium this year. What she did the other night was really great and completely unexpected.

“So for her, it has been an excellent campaign.”

Desovich is also pleased with the progress made by Graham and regards this season’s performances as very encouraging.

“Matt did well today. He qualified 16th, won his first dual run and finish in 14th position, which is a great way to end the season,” Desovich said.

“We are pleased with Matt. To see him do well today is a good result for him and hopefully this helps him to get going for the future.”

“Nineteen year old Nicole Parks finished in 22nd place in the dual mogul event but has also made significant progress during the last four weeks of World Cup competition.

“Nicole also has had some very bright moments over the past weeks. On Thursday night the 13th place was a huge step forward. Making two finals from four events is a big change this year in the right direction. With more work on her jumps Nicole will come prepared for next season, with a strong chance to really succeed at the World Cup level.” Desovich said.

In other results with Australians competing in the Deer Valley moguls, NSWIS athlete Taylah O’Neill, competing in her second World Cup event of the season, placed 29th.