Gold rush for Australian snowsports
Published Mon 03 Mar 2025
Courtesy OWIA
Australian winter sport is celebrating a goldrush in World Cup competition overnight, with victories in aerial skiing in Kazakhstan and the snowboard cross mixed team event in Türkiye.
AERIALS | Double aerial skiing podium Peel gold and Scott bronze
Aerial skiers Laura Peel and Danielle Scott made it a double World Cup podium celebration in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where Peel claimed gold and Scott bronze.
The victory completed a terrific turnaround for Peel, who qualified in last place for the 12-woman final before landing triple back somersaults in the first final and then the medal round to record the 13th World Cup victory of her career.
Four Australian women qualified for finals with Scott in first, Airleigh Frigo seventh, Abbey Willcox eighth and Peel in 12th.
In the first round of finals, Peel performed a lay-full-full triple somersault scoring 93.85 placing her third while Scott's 91.66 for her full-full double somersault placed her in fourth. Willcox made it three Aussies in the super-final with a score of 84.96 for her full-full good enought fo sixth. Missing out on the super-final was Frigo in 12th, scoring 60.79 for her full-full.
In the medal round, Peel increased her difficult adding an extra twist, jumping full-full-full to score a massive 115.91 points for first place and her fourth victory of the season. Mengtao Xu of China was second on 101.74 while Scott was third and after increasing her difficulty, performing a double full-full (triple twisting double somersault) which scored 87.06. Willcox finished sixth jumping a double full-full scoring 65.56.
“I feel great, really relieved. I think I got a little lucky, I snuck into the final, so I’m just happy to be jumping,” said Peel, the 35-year-old double World Champion from Canberra.
Narrowly missing the 12-woman final but matching her career-best finish was rookie Elise Coleiro in 13th and in the men’s event Reilly Flanagan was 31st.
With one event remaining, Peel is on 442 points on top of the World Cup standings, increasing her lead to 78 points ahead of Xu, with Scott in third 98 points behind Peel. Also in the top-10 for Australia are Willcox in sixth and Frigo ninth.
The final World Cup of the season will take place at the 2026 Olympic venue in Livigno on Thursday 13 March.
Peel is in prime position to secure her third World Cup Crystal Globe and will do so if she can earn a top 12 finishin Italy.
“I’m in a good spot, but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself," said Peel. "One jump at a time, but I’m really happy.”
SNOWBOARD CROSS | Bolton and Baff win Australia’s first World Cup mixed team gold medal
Cameron Bolton and Josie Baff have combined to win Australia’s first-ever World Cup gold medal in the snowboard cross mixed team event in Erzurum, Türkiye, giving Baff two medals for the weekend after finishing third in yesterday’s individual event.
In the medal round, the Australia 1 team featuring Bolton and Baff were joined by Great Britain 1, Austria 1 and USA 2, with the men first to drop followed by the women.
Bolton had a great opening leg, leading from start to finish to cross the line three hundredths of a second ahead of the USA, giving Baff a small lead heading into the final women’s run.
In the final run Baff also managed to maintain the lead from start to finish, holding off a strong challenge from Great Britain’s Charlotte Bankes to claim victory by four hundredths of a second. Rounding out the podium in third place was Austria.
“Cam and I had been wanting to be in a team for a while and he gave me the perfect amount of lead that I needed," said 22-year-old Baff. "I knew that if I had the track to myself, I was going to be hard to pass, so it worked out well for us today and we are really happy.”
Bolton said: “Really happy sharing a team with Josie, we are close friends and teammates. She is riding so well; I just wanted to come out and make sure that I rode as well as I could and give her every opportunity to shine, and shine she did."
Australia has now won snowboard cross mixed team gold medals at both World Cup and World Championship level, joining Jarryd Hughes and Belle Brockhoff from 2021.
The Australia 2 team featuring Jarryd Hughes and Mia Clift finished in 13.
Next for the snowboard cross riders is a World Cup double event in Georgia this weekend.
