Strong Performances from Aussie Athletes with Winter Olympics Just Three Weeks Away

Mountainwatch | Reggae Elliss

The past weekend was a big one for Australia’s snow athletes who locked in some good World Cup results, including another Silver Medal for mogul skier Jakara Anthony in Canada and back-to-back finals for Belle Brockhoff in the boardercross events in Russia.

The mogul team had two World Cup events across consecutive days in Tremblant Canada, Jakara pacing fifth in the finals of the first comp before snaring the Silver Medal on day two.

Cooper Woods locked in his best World Cup result in the first event, making the finals and finishing ninth spot.  Britt Cox (13^th) (13th), Brodie Summers (13th) and James Matheson (16th) also made the final on day two.

Jakara Anthony is now in second place on the rankings, but won’t have to wait long to try and regain the leader’s yellow bib with the next World Cup scheduled for Deer Valley, USA this weekend. The aerial team also returns to competition in Deer Valley, Laura Peel and Danielle Scott looking for big results in the final pre-olympic event.

The Australian boardercross athletes were in Krasnoyarsk, Russia for a World Cup event doubleheader, Belle Brockhoff making both finals, but finishing fourth in each one. Adam Lambert also made the final in the second event, finishing a close fourth and just missing the podium. Adam Dickson also had a good weekend, making both small finals, for a seventh in the first event and sixth in the second.

While there no podium results for the Australians across the weekend the team had some solid results with seven top-10 finishes across the two days of competition.

In the first event Josie Baff finished ninth in the women’s while in the men’s Cam Bolton finished 13^th, Adam Lambert 17^thand Jarryd Hughes 36^th.

The men all achieved better results in the second event, Adam Lambert making the big final, just missing the podium in fourth place with Adam Dickson in sixth, Cam Bolton in ninth and Jarryd Hughes in 17th.

In the first event Josie Baff finished ninth while in the men’s Adam Dickson made the small final, finishing seventh overall, with Cam Bolton 13^th, Adam Lambert 17^thand Jarryd Hughes 36^th.

The men achieved better results in the second event, Adam Lambert finishing fourth with Adam Dickson in sixth, Cam Bolton in ninth and Jarryd Hughes in 17th.

The next snowboard cross World Cup is a couple of weeks away, set for Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy on January 29, a week before the start of the Olympics.

The freeski and snowboard teams were in Mammoth Mountain for the US Grand Prix and World Cup where strong winds forced a rescheduling of the program. Matty Cox rode well in the snowboard slopestyle, but missed out on the top 16 final and ended up in 22^ndplace. In the halfpipe Emily Arthur finished in 14^thplace and Valentino Guseli just missed out on the 12-man final, finishing in 13^thspot.

While Valentino was disappointed with his performance, he had reason to smile as the result garnered enough points for him to qualify for next month’s Olympics. To top that off Val has also been invited to compete in the X Games in Aspen, making it a big season for the 16-year-old.

In skiing slopestyle, Abi Harrigan finished 24^thin the women’s while Cameron Waddell couldn’t find his rhythm and finished 45^th.

The snowboarders head to Laax, Switzerland this week for the final World Cup before the Olympics. The next Freeski World Cup is in Font Romeau France on Jan 14-16, which is also the final World Cup before the Olympics.

Finally, our ski cross athletes are set to return to World Cup competition this week, the next starting in Nakiska, Canada on Thursday, January 13.

There is just over three weeks until the start of the Winter Olympics in Beijing on February 4, and things are heating up over the next fortnight.