It has been a rare 12 months for Jakara Anthony.
Twelve months in the past, Anthony kicked off Australia’s most profitable ever Winter Olympic Video games by winning one of Australia’s four medals in Beijing.
Anthony was on fireplace that evening, claiming Australia’s sixth-ever Winter Video games gold medal on what was Australia’s own Super Sunday, following Tess Coady’s snowboard slopestyle bronze.
As Australia’s solely gold medallist from these Video games although, Anthony has gone from the relative anonymity most winter sports activities athletes take pleasure in between Olympic cycles to turning into significantly sizzling property.
An Olympic gold medal will try this.
Since her eye-catching efficiency on the slopes of the Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park, Anthony has popped up as a visitor on the Melbourne Method 1 Grand Prix, the Bells Seashore leg of the World Surf League and even slid down the AFL’s Large Freeze slide on the MCG.
It is a far cry from the lengthy nights and freezing temperatures of the Australian moguls group’s coaching base in Ruka, Finland, simply south of the Arctic circle.
However for Anthony, the snow is the place she feels most comfy.
“It’s not so bad having to come back to training, it’s kinda when things quieten down,” Anthony informed ABC Sport from her coaching base in Ruka, Finland, earlier than the World Cup occasion in Quebec at Val Saint Come.
“I was never in the sport to try and get a profile, that’s just been a cool little bonus that’s come off the back of the Olympics.
“I’ve gotten some actually cool alternatives, gotten to satisfy some very cool individuals, encourage some individuals.
“It’s been a pretty wild year.”
It has been a memorable yr however, 12 months on from that bitterly chilly evening in Zhangjiakou, it appears as if Anthony is simply getting began.
This season, the 24-year-old received all three moguls occasions occasions earlier than the Christmas break, claiming wins in Finland, Sweden and France.
She then completed second final weekend in Canada earlier than claiming a remarkable fourth victory of the season at Deer Valley to wrap up a complete victory within the total FIS World Cup standings with one spherical nonetheless to go and with it, the moguls crystal globe for season 2023.
Previous to this season, Anthony had solely received three particular person moguls occasions at World Cup stage or increased — together with her Olympic crown.
She has, although, stood on the opposite steps of the rostrum 13 instances and has eight different podiums on the twin moguls circuit, a level of consistency that earned her a primary crystal globe as the general FIS World Cup champion final yr.
So what has modified for Anthony to make that leap from key contender to incomes a bucket filled with gold on each go to to Europe’s snow fields?
“I don’t think that the Olympic medal is what makes a difference,” Anthony stated with a smile.
“I think it’s all the work that myself and my team have put in to developing the skills that gave me the opportunity to win that medal.
“They’ve additionally given me the chance to go and compete effectively in these different occasions too.”
Australia ‘punches above its weight’ on snow
The Australian winter sport scene is currently enjoying a golden era.
As was the case in Beijing, Anthony is the standard bearer, but her success is far from isolated.
As Anthony herself put it: “Australian winter sports activities are completely crashing it in the mean time.”
Earlier than Christmas, Aussies recorded victories in aerials, snowboard cross, half pipe and big air events.
Since then, Val Guseli has won the crystal globe as FIS snowboard Big Air World Cup winner, Alex Ferlazzo became the first Australian to win a Nations Cup luge event, Bree Walker and Sarah Blizzard scored a career best fifth in the two-women bobsled event at Winterberg and Ben Tudhope has claimed victories in the ParaAlpine World Cup.
Australia then loved a hugely successful X-Games, claiming three medals in Aspen.
“Throughout the board we have had nice outcomes throughout a number of disciplines,” said Olympic silver medallist Matt Graham, who has also stood on the podium this season, recovering his best form after injury cruelled his chances in Beijing.
“The [moguls] group’s doing nice, clearly Jakara being the stand-out.
“Jackson Harvey, [it’s] his first year on tour and he’s got three finals, and obviously [Olympic finalist] Cooper Woods is doing well as well.
“It is thrilling instances for Australian winter sports activities however I believe we simply have actually good programs in Australia which might be put in place, by way of the Australia Winter Institute, to actually simply assist the group succeed and get probably the most out of the expertise we’ve.
“Obviously we’re a small talent pool relative to the bigger nations, but we definitely punch above our weight as far as how well we can do.
“We’ve got a number of medal contenders in a number of sports activities — that is fairly unusual in in our self-discipline, not to mention from a sun-drenched nation like Australia.”
Graham particularly praised Perisher for building “the longest and doubtless the toughest [moguls] course on the planet” for Aussie athletes to train on.
Anthony agreed, saying innovations such as the new airbag facility at the National Snowsports Training Facility in Jindabyne would take Australia’s freestyle skiers from strength to strength.
“I do know for moguls specifically, and aerials, we even have nice services in Australia,” Anthony said.
“The brand new airbag facility and all that stuff goes to assist proceed to maintain the expertise in our sport for years to return so will probably be thrilling to see the place all the pieces will progress from.
“We’re at such a strong point right now and we’re getting all these facilities to help the future so that will be really exciting to see what happens there.”
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