Anthony creates history with record breaking 26th World Cup victory

New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Jakara Anthony has rewritten Australian winter sports history, taking out her 26th World Cup victory with a commanding performance in Waterville Valley, USA, surpassing legendary aerial skier Jacqui Cooper’s 25 wins to become Australia’s all-time World Cup wins leader.

The 27-year-old now heads into the Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games on a three-event winning streak, and ranked No.1 on the World Cup standings as she prepares to defend her Olympic gold medal.

Anthony was the only female skier to break the 80-point barrier on the day, winning all three rounds of the event in a commanding performance. She opened with a score of 80.04 points in qualification, and in the first round of finals secured her place in the six woman super-final with 81.59 points.

In the super-final, Anthony performed another fast and clean run with her jumps including a cork 7 and backflip mute grab to score 81.17 points, 3.05 points ahead of second place finisher Elizabeth Lemley of the USA on 78.12. Another American, Olivia Giaccio, rounded out the podium in third on 76.60 points.

Teammate, and fellow NSWIS athlete, Charlotte Wilson also impressed, reaching the top-16 women’s final and finishing 13th, her third finals appearance of the season.

“I guess I have a good track record here now,” said Anthony, who was a double winner in Waterville last season. “It hasn’t been the easiest comp this month, and the season’s been all over the place. I’m just super stoked to put down a few really clean runs.

“It’s a nice place to leave the World Cup season on hold until the next one,” added Anthony, as she gets ready for next month’s Olympic Games.

In the men’s event, both Matt Graham (NSWIS) and Jackson Harvey (NSWIS) both qualified strongly for finals, placing third and eighth respectively with scores of 78.34 and 75.32. In the final, Harvey backed up his recent form with another top-10 result, finishing eighth with 78.00 points. Unfortunately Graham was back on his bottom air landing after skiing an excellent run to that point, leading to a score of 65.94 points to finish 16th.

Also representing Australia were Emma Bosco finishing 23rd in the women’s event and in the men’s competition Cooper Woods (NSWIS) finished 22nd and George Murphy (NSWIS) 42nd.

After four events, Anthony has extended her lead on the World Cup standings on 340 points, a 78-point lead over the USA’s Tess Johnson. In the men’s rankings, Graham sits second on 245 points, trailing Japan’s Ikuma Horishima by 51 points, with Harvey rounding out Australia’s top-10 representation in tenth on 93 points.

The Australian Mogul Team will now travel to Ruka, Finland, for a training camp before heading to Italy for the Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games.

Story courtesy of OWIA

Photo: Chris Hocking