ANNA SEGAL Australia’s Newest World Champion
Anna and THE medal Image:: Andrew Clarke
Freestyle World Championships | Words – Lorraine Lock, powered by Chicks with Stix
According to Anna Segal, Australia’s most recent World Champion, “hard work pays off”. The skier from Melbourne who won gold in slopestyle at the recent FIS Freestyle World Championships should know….. less than six months ago she was in Cooma Hospital after a painful skiing accident at Thredbo, at an event that saw her take first place but break her ankle and severe her ligament, inside her ski boot.
Fast forward to this week and Segal was on the podium claiming gold, watching the Aussie flag being raised and singing along to the national anthem (yes, she knows the words).
“I’m so stoked,” Anna told me directly after her win “today wasn’t about my career or sponsors or money – today was about representing my country in a sport that I love. I was elated to see the flag being raised.”
First place Image:: TBR
But it wasn’t without some sacrifice.
“I broke my ankle three months before I wanted to start skiing again, so it was a mad rush to rehab my ankle and my leg as my muscle was completely wasted away. I wasn’t walking properly for two months and I had to miss the first big comp of the season and wasn’t feeling 100% at X Games (two weeks ago). It has been a struggle and mentally challenging, but the hard work has paid off …. with lots of time in the gym Im feeling pretty strong now.”
The struggle was less noticeable to the onlooker as Anna attacked the slopestyle course with gusto, taking a line similar to the male competitors, moving into first place with her first run and holding on all the way through the comp. *She was the only female competitor to tackle the bigger jumps – hitting two out of three*e.
Anna came to the FIS event straight after the X Games with zero expectations – her skiing was still developing week by week, as her body grew stronger, but she was still aware that it was anyone’s podium. After qualifications, the day before finals, Anna was sitting in eighth place and knew that she had to ramp it up.
The early morning starts (unusual for freestyle) and the minus 20 degrees Celsius temperatures meant the course was sticky and slow – not a winning combination when trying to gain some height to execute the tricks that are going to impress the judges.
“The first two days of training I was really struggling with speed. The cold temps and new snow made my skis a bit sticky, but this morning my skis were gliding really well in training and I knew that I could hit the bigger jumps and I knew that it would count for a lot of points to be hitting the larger side,” said Segal following the finals.
But if Segal was pleasantly surprised by her win those around her were less surprised.
“Anna definitely has what it takes to podium when you least expect it”, said Liam Wallis who was in attendance this week. “It takes unique mental ability to perform when it counts. Anna has that ability – she just knows how to get it done.” Wallis coaches with Segal at Mt Buller’s freeride programme, Team Buller Riders.
Hard work and determination, plus her love of and dedication to skiing resulted in a big win this week.
And this was the important FIS World Championships to win as slopestyle had been included by FIS, the governing ski committee, for the first time, with an eye on impressing the IOC and convincing them of the merit of the discipline being included in the next Winter Olympics. Both slope and Halfpipe, which is also being considered, attracted a large and appreciative viewing audience, something the IOC and FIS representatives were closely monitoring.
Like a lot of the other athletes Segal admitted there was a specialness to this event.
“It’s definitely a different feeling, I mean the X Games is, and has always been, the biggest event in freeskiing so far, but this is a new event and its more fulfilling in terms of representing my country. With this event I really feel a camaraderie with all the other freestyle athletes in aerials and ski x and moguls, Everyone is here to support each other so its good having that support base.”
Another positive (in the eyes of the IOC) about the slope and pipe events has to be their ability to attract new countries to compete. These newer disciplines require less snow terrain than the traditional alpine racing events, which are dominated by the northern hemisphere countries, and their very compactness makes for exciting spectator viewing.
According to Anna “the good thing about slopestyle is that all you need is a patch of snow and some rails or a jump and kids can learn so many different tricks.
“I think it does open it up for countries that have snow but not necessarily the terrain. For Australia that’s great – we have snow but we don’t have the biggest mountains, but we can always build jumps and put rails in there. Australian kids are so active … we can easily catch up with the northern hemisphere.”
Last southern winter season Anna helped coach in the “Chicks with Stix” program – an incentive for young girls to try the world of freestyle skiing and competing. She plans to do the same this year so it looks like we could be seeing more Aussie chix on the podium in the near future….
Anna’s next stop – Dew Tour
Chicks with Stix is a Mt Buller based programme designed to provide the opportunity & encouragement for more young girls (aka chicks) to take up the challenge and get involved in competitive freestyle skiing – bumps, freeride & big mountain. Powered by Roxy .
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