Ruka to host Freestyle Skiing Season Opener with Logan Making World Cup Debut

Photo: Chris Hocking OWIA

The 2023/24 Freestyle Skiing World Cup season gets underway this week, with the first Moguls and Aerials events in Ruka, Finland.

Almost like a home away from home for our Aussie freestyle skiers, the Finnish town of Kuusamo has hosted the season’s first Freestyle Skiing World Cup events for the past 13 years.

Australia has a strong history of success in Ruka, with 12 World Cup medals, dating back to Alisa Camplin’s Aerials gold in 2003.

The six-strong Australian Moguls team will kick off a double World Cup weekend, headed by Olympic medallists Jakara Anthony and Matt Graham. Anthony will be looking to defend her Ruka World Cup title after winning gold in 2022, and silver in 2021. Graham won bronze in Finland last season, six years after he won Ruka World Cup silver in 2016

Beijing 2022 Olympian Cooper Woods returns for his seventh World Cup season, alongside Jackson Harvey and George Murphy who both made their debuts last season. World Cup debutant Oliver Logan will round out the team.

Logan is no stranger to the international scene, having competed in his first international events in 2020. He was the top-placed Australian at the 2023 Junior World Championships, placing 10th in the individual men’s moguls.

The 20-year-old said training with the team at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre in Brisbane, plus the pre-season on snow camp in Ruka has prepared him well for this significant career milestone.

“Skiing in a World Cup is something that has quickly become a reality for me and I am really lucky to be able to make my debut this season,” he said. “It is really special to be amongst the best skiers in the world and this awesome Australian team.

“Leading into these events we’ve spent a lot of time training at the water ramp in Brisbane. This facility has been a key training environment for the team, where we spend our days practicing our tricks, followed by strength and conditioning workouts.

“We have now spent two weeks in Ruka, Finland training on the course. It’s been super valuable to have access to the World Cup course weeks out from the event. This time has allowed me to get back up to speed and ready for the competition on Saturday.”

Logan said his focus for the competition is putting down a performance he can be proud of.

“George and Jackson, who made their debuts last year, have told me to focus on the process and not the end result,” he said.
“Since it’s a new competition level for me, my goals are to ski and execute to the best of my ability. I am really focusing on soaking up the experience so I can learn and build through each event.”

Two Moguls World Cups will be held Saturday 2 December, before two Aerials World Cups are on Sunday 3 December.

Headlined by Crystal Globe Champions Laura Peel and Danielle Scott, Australia’s Flying Kangaroo Aerial Team have won gold in Ruka every year for the past three years, with Peel winning gold in 2020, Scott and Peel finished first and second respectively in 2021 and Scott stood on top of the podium in 2022.

Scott is also coming into the opening event of the season off the back of two gold medals to end the 2022/23 season as the Crystal Globe Champion.

Abbey Willcox will make her World Cup return for the first time since January 2022, coming into the event off the back of a second place finish at the Brisbane Water Jump Grand Prix in September.

After making her World Cup debut in Ruka two years earlier, Airleigh Frigo will round out the four-strong Australian Aerials team in Finland, feeling confident after securing the gold medal at the inaugural Brisbane Water Jump Grand Prix.

The Ruka Freestyle Skiing World Cups will be streamed LIVE and FREE on FIS.TV. Watch the Moguls Finals from 2.15am AEDT on Sunday 3 December and the Aerials Finals from 1.30am on Monday 4 December.