Moguls ace Anthony wins winter sport gong
Just as she did with her rivals throughout the World Cup season, moguls queen Jakara Anthony has swept the Snow Australia awards.
Anthony achieved a feat that not even the greatest mogul skier of all time, Mikael Kingsbury, has pulled off with the Beijing Olympic gold medallist winning a record 14 World Cup races this season.
There was competition within the Australian winter sports ranks at the annual awards night in Melbourne with athletes collecting five Crystal Globes for topping their discipline’s FIS World Cup standings.
Recording the best-ever overall results in a season across Olympic and Paralympic disciplines, Australian athletes scored 53 podium performances which included 18 World Cup victories.
Anthony beat aerials star Danielle Scott, who also finished as world No.1, to clinch the female athlete of the year award for Olympic disciplines.
Jakara Anthony flies down the mountain during her moguls triumph in Kazakhstan. (HANDOUT/CHRIS HOCKING OWIA)
She was also the recipient of the Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin Outstanding Achievement, named after the late snowboarder.
Anthony was thrilled to be recognised back on home soil for her achievements.
“It was a phenomenal season for winter sports and we had strong results right across every discipline so it’s exciting to be a part of this new era of snow sports,” Anthony told AAP.
“It’s been exciting to get back to Australia and see first-hand how many people have been supporting me and the impact my Olympic result and this record-breaking season has had.
“It will be good to continue to have that support as we start to ramp up for the next Olympics.”
Anthony has next set her sights winning her first world championships gold medal in St Moritz, Switzerland, in March before the countdown to the 2026 Olympics in Italy really kicks in.
The male athlete of the year for Olympic disciplines was won by 19-year-old sensation Valentino Guseli.
Guseli defended his Crystal Globe for topping the overall World Cup standings for snowboard park, while he also bagged his first halfpipe World Cup win.
In Paralympic awards, snowboard star Ben Tudhope won the male athlete gong for the sixth straight year while visually-impaired skier Georgia Gunew celebrated her maiden World Cup podium by taking out the women’s award.
The Junior Athlete of the Year award was shared by freeskier Daisy Thomas and rising moguls skier Lottie Lodge, with both winning silver medals at the Youth Winter Olympic Games in Korea in January.
Tudhope’s coach Nickie Rodger was named coach of the year for Paralympic disciplines for the second straight year while Anthony’s coach Peter McNiel (McNiel) took out Olympic equivalent for the fourth time.