Cox secures sixth gold medal & first mogul skiing World Cup title

Britt Cox has created history, becoming the first Australian female to win a Mogul Skiing World Cup title on the back of her sixth World Cup gold medal and mixed Dual event in Tazawako, Japan this weekend.

Britt’s victory in the single moguls makes it six golds from eight World Cups, plus one bronze, only once missing the podium this season (in Val St. Come, Canada).  Cox qualified second and then again in the first final to Perrine Laffont from France. However, by the medal round Cox was back on top scoring 78.57 to Laffont’s 78.36 to take the win.

In the mixed Dual Mogul event the 22-year-old NSWIS skier went down in in the round of 16 to Russian Marika Pertakhiya, however she did just enough to lead the series by 259 points and wrap up the overall title, with only two events and a maximum of 200 points remaining in China next weekend. Fortunately for Cox, her closest rivals, Perrine Laffont of France and Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Canada were also unable to progress to the later rounds of the event.

“Mogul skiing has been my passion ever since I was a little kid. I live and breathe moguls, so to find out this afternoon that I have won the crystal globe for mogul skiing feels incredible." Cox reflected on her journey in the sport. “The job certainly is not done yet. We still have two more world cups in China before the World Championships in Spain. I skied well in the Duals today but my opponent in the round of 16 skied better. It was a close one but I think I got a bit wild in the middle section which meant the dual went her way. I am so grateful for the motivated and hard working support team I have around me. The Australian system of OWIA, NSWIS, AOC, AIS and Ski and Snowboard Australia provide our team with the best possible support to allow us to simply do our job as best we can week to week."

It is a truly remarkable accomplishment for the 22-year-old skier whose previous best rankings at season-end were 14th in moguls in 2013/14, and 57th on the overall list in 2014/15. She now equals the legendary Dale Begg-Smith, who won six World Cup events in his Olympic Gold Medal winning year in 2005-2006.

Her coach Steve ‘Des’ Desovich couldn’t be happier.  “Britt skied fast, jumped well and had very good turns to conclude a nice rounded performance between all three sectors. The conditions were tricky and it was a challenge due to changing weather and snow conditions but Britt adapted very well and advanced nicely throughout the day with no major errors."

Cox’s World Cup title was not the only highlight for the Mogul Skiing Program in Japan, with Matt Graham putting together an impressive performance to take bronze in the Dual Moguls and finishing fifth in the singles. Graham advanced though the first few rounds before a semi-final showdown with world number two, Benjamin Cavet of France. In a very competitive dual, Graham was unfortunately unable to progress to the big-final, going down 19 to 16.  He bounced back in the small-final, this time being on the right side of a 19-16 decision to take bronze against Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Reiherd.

Graham was thrilled to come away with his third World Cup medal of the season and also enjoying a successful season, having been in the top six in the eight World Cups so far, collecting one gold, one silver and now one bronze along the way.

“Today was pretty awesome. I am really happy to come away with my third consecutive podium here in Tazawako.” Graham said.

Brodie Summers was the next placed Australian male making the first final and finishing 10th and other Australian results included Claudia Gueli 24th, Krystle Yin 28th, Rohan Chapman Davies 39th and James Matheson 41st.

Article courtesy of OWIA