Freestyle Community Update - December 2023

Dear Freestyle Community,

Welcome to the inaugural Freestyle Community Update.

With the Australian winter now in the rear vision mirror, our pathway clubs, Emerging Talent Program, NSWIS National Development and OWIA World Cup teams have been training hard in the gym and at the water ramp since late September.

We wish all of our athletes at all levels of our sport a successful northern winter wherever they may be training and competing. Meanwhile, the Freestyle Skiing World Cup season started at its now traditional home in Ruka with our Australian team enjoying some strong results in Finland.

Jakara Anthony won the first World Cup of the season and expressed afterwards how happy and proud she was of her training and competition performance in Ruka. Now with her speed as another major weapon in her arsenal, the rest of the World Cup season looks like it will be great viewing for Australian and Mogul fans in general.

Japan’s Ikuma Horishima won the men’s event by a clear margin with some high level technical skiing and great jumping. Rounding out the men’s podium were two Olympic Gold Medallists Walter Walberg from Sweden and Canadian legend Mikael Kingsbury.

Australia’s Olympic silver medallist and multiple World Cup winner Matt Graham placed seventh and was very unlucky not to make the six-man Super Final. Matt has made a solid return from an injury layoff that kept him off skis during the Australian domestic winter. Keep your eye out for Matt as he builds into the next phase of this World Cup season.

Cooper Woods finished in 16th place, Ollie Logan made a solid World Cup debut finishing in 31st. George Murphy finished in 38th however Jackson Harvey was unable to start due to an injury sustained in training. 

The following night, Danielle Scott launched into her Crystal Globe defence with a second place finish at the opening Aerials World Cup in Ruka. Laura Peel was agonisingly close to the podium, missing out by just half a point. Laura has stayed back in Ruka this week and will contest the upcoming European Cup events. Abbey Willcox (12th) made the final in her first World Cup in nearly two years while Airleigh Frigo achieved the fourth-highest finish of her career in 17th.

Click here for full results from the Ruka Freestyle World Cup.

The Mogul World Cup Team are now off to Idrefjall Sweden for the next World Cup 7th - 8th December, Whilst the Aerial Team has a small break before they head to China for their next World Cup in Changchun, China on the 16th- 17th December. 

Australian Development Mogul Team

After two months of water ramp and strength and conditioning training at the Geoff Henke Water Ramp facility in Brisbane. The team then departed for Winter Park, Colorado in late November, where they will be based for the Northern Hemisphere Season.

Emerging Talent Program

The ETP program have been hard at work on the water ramp, both at the Snow Australia Lilydale Water Ramp facility and the Geoff Henke Water Ramp facility in Brisbane. Whilst up in Brisbane, the ETP program enjoyed a special Q&A session with OWIA athletes / Olympic Medallists Jakara Anthony and Matt Graham. The athletes will continue their training on water ramp and in the gym leading up to Christmas before they depart for Winter Park Colorado at the end of December. 

Development Competitions
The below athletes have been selected to compete at the US Freestyle Selections event in Winter Park on the 15- 17 December. 

WOMEN

• Xanthia Coote 
• Lucy Pernice
• Lottie Lodge
• Indiana Speirs
• Emma Bosco 
• Kareema Wakim
• Charlotte Wilson

MEN

• Edward Hill
• Tristian Rowley
• Mac Livissianos

Click here to follow the results of this event from 15-17 December

Don’t forget, thanks to FIS.TV all World Cup events are now available to watch LIVE. Check the schedule at www.snow.org.au/live and make sure you support our Aussie athletes as they take on the World.

All the best,
David Speirs
National Freestyle Committee Chair

Read Full Freestyle Update Here

In this edition:

• Six Aussie World Cup Medals across bumper Weekend
• Watch World Cup Live with Snow Live x FIS.TV
• Competing Overseas
• 2023 Community Sport Awards
• Snow Australia Holiday Office Hours
• Positions Vacant: Mt Buller Ski & Snowboard School

Images courtesy of Chris Hocking / OWIA