Anthony records career best result in first World Cup Super Final

Courtesy: www.owia.org 

Mogul skier Jakara Anthony lived up to the promise she showed late last season in making her first World Cup Super Final in Deer Valley, Utah today.

Finishing 5th in a 51-strong field, Anthony laid down her best in all three runs, starting with sixth in the qualifying, again sixth in the small final before climbing one more to her final fifth career-best result.

The 19-year-old Victorian, whose previous best was ninth in Japan last year is “beyond excited”.

“It’s my first super final and I’m beyond excited,” she said at the finish of her event.

“I had a solid qualifying with sixth, backed it up with sixth in the final and then one more in the super final. It’s one of my best runs in comp that I’ve had.”

Anthony scored 73.90 points in the qualifying, increased to 78.04 in the small final and laid down 76.19 for her final run.

“It was awesome looking down at the crowd (for the super final) and I was a bit nervous but I got the job done with a fifth.”

Deer Valley in Utah is regarded as the super bowl of Freestyle Skiing, attracting big crowds to the sport’s premier date on the competitive calendar.

“The conditions today were ever changing. A bit of rain and a bit of snow but the weather cleared and the course was awesome by the super final,” Anthony said. “Today I did nothing different to what I’ve been training, just got it together better which I haven’t done previously this season.”

“Now it’s recovery, get ready to go again tomorrow and back it up,” Anthony said of the second World Cup tomorrow.  
Anthony edged out team mate Britt Cox, the current Number 1 going into Deer Valley, relegating her to seventh place in the small final and therefore, not able to advance to the medal round.  

Cox had put down a quality run in the small final without too many mistakes but perhaps lacking a bit of flair on this occasion. The emerging US women, Kauf, Schild and McCargo, threw down the gauntlet with fast, technically strong runs finishing second, third and fourth behind winner Perrine Laffont from France.  

20-year-old Queenslander Sophie Ash, who is in her debut World Cup season, stepped up again making her second small final this week, having qualified in Calgary last weekend and now in Deer Valley. Ash came in 13th in qualifying, scoring 72.04 and again 13th in the small final with an imporved 74.16 points.

Matt Graham made a herculean effort to qualify fifth (in a field of 62 men) and make the top 16 after suffering from a bout of gastroenteritis last night, which saw him admitted to hospital for three hours for an intravenous drip.

Despite being unwell, Graham made it to 13th in the small final after having trouble with the landing on his bottom jump – a D-Spin 1080 - and will hopefully regain some strength before tomorrow’s second World Cup.

Other Australian results for the women were Taylah O’Neill in 18th with a very strong performance, Madii Himbury 32nd, Krystle Yin 37th and Claudia Gueli 42nd.

Men’s results include Rohan Chapman-Davies 32nd, James Matheson 37th and Cooper Woords-Topalovic 54th.
The action starts again tomorrow in Deer Valley for the second World Cup starting with Women’s qualifying at 8.10am (AEDT). Finals can watched LIVE on Eurosport Australia  

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Belinda Noonan
OWIA