Two Gold Medals Overnight Cap a Week of World Cup Podium Results for Australian Athletes
Mountainwatch |Press Release
Aerial skier Laura Peel capped off a big week for Australian World Cup athletes when she won gold overnight in Almaty, Kazakhastan overnight. Snowboarders Josie Baff and Cameron Bolton also won gold last night, taking out the teams event at the World Cup in Ezurum, Türkiye.
It was a another solid result for Peel and she remains at the top of the rankings with just one World Cup competition left in this year’s tour. Australian team mate Danielle Scott placed third, her second bronze in as many weeks, with China’s Xu Mengtao in second place.
Peel stomped a textbook back full-full-full beautifully in the super-final to score 115.91 points and take first place. It completed a big turnaround for her after she squeezed in the first round of finals in 12th. Xu Mengtao scored 101.74 while Danielle Scott landed a back double-full-full that was good enough for 87.06 points to take third place.
On her fourth World Cup win of the season, Peel said: “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.”
Peel is in pole position to wrap up the season in Livigno later this month with a Crystal Globe, as she leads the standings 78 points ahead of Xu. She said: “I’m in a good spot, but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself. One jump at a time, but I’m really happy.”
Baff and Bolton Win Mixed teams Snowboard Cross
Josie Baff and Cam Bolton were in form during last nights mixed teams World Cup, both winning their finals to pip Great Britain for the win. It was the first mixed teams World Cup event of the season a great result after Baff won the bronze medal in the individual event the previous day
Baff and Bolton Win Mixed teams
Josie Baff and Cam Bolton were in form during last nights mixed teams World Cup, both winning their finals to pip Great Britain for the win. It was the first mixed teams World Cup event of the season a great result after Baff won the bronze medal in the individual event the previous day
“It was a lot of fun today,” Baff said after the win. “The course is running a little bit faster and Cam and I have we’v been wanting to be in a team for a while,. He gave me the perfect amount of lead that I needed and I knew if I had the track myself I was going to be hard to pass. it worked out and yeah we’re very happy.”
For Bolton the final was a chance to ease the disappointment he felt after Saturday’s World Cup where he made the quarter finals to finished in 16th place. “It’s so good sharing a team with JoJo,” Bolton said after the final. “We’re close friends and close teammates and she’s riding so so well so 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.”
Individual Bronze for Baff in Erzurum
Baff had a good weekend in Erzurum, the team gold following her bronze medal finish and third World Cup podium of the season in a close final that went right to the finish line.
Racing under sunny skies on a long demanding course, Baff started strongly winning her quarter-final and then went through to the Big Final medal round after crossing the line in second place in the semi-final.
In the Big Final, Baff was in third for most of the race but came close in the final stages to be narrowly behind Lea Casta of France in second place by 0.12 seconds, and only 0.19 behind winner Charlotte Bankes of Great Britain.
“This has been the most demanding course so far on tour,” said the 22-year-old Baff from Jindabyne in the NSW Snowy Mountains. “The high altitude has really tested a lot of us with the base level around 2500m. The course was fast too, so I’m happy to end the day with another podium.
Three other Australian women also made it through to the quarter-final stage; Belle Brockhoff was 11th in her first event of the season after returning from injury, Mia Clift was 13th and Amber Essex 14th.
In the men’s event German Leon Ulbricht was victorious while Cam Bolton was Australia’s best, making it through to the quarter-finals to finish 16th. In the round of 32, Jarryd Hughes finished 19th and Adam Lambert 26th. Missing finals in the qualification round were Declan Dent 35th, James Johnstone 41st and Matthew Thomas 49th.
After five events, Baff is ranked third on the standings with 310 points, trailing Casta in second on 365 and Bankes out in front on 450. Cam Bolton is fifth on the men’s standings.
Matt Graham Takes Bronze in Moguls World Cup
Matt Graham claimed World Cup bronze medals on the weekend, Graham’s was the 27th podium of his career in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and the 12th for Baff in Erzurum, Türkiye.
The 2018 Olympic silver medallist Graham shared a historic moment with fellow competitors Mikael Kingsbury and Ikuma Horishima on the first ever mogul skiing “dad podium,” as all three skiers became first time fathers just prior to the 2024/25 season.
In the match-up for bronze, Graham defeated Korean Daeyoon Jung 22-13, his second dual mogul podium of the season. Canadian Mikael Kingsbury was victorious 21-14 in the gold medal dual over Ikuma Horishima of Japan.
“It’s great to be back on the podium,” said Graham. We have been knocking on the door to have the dad podium all season. Two times we have finished 1-2-4, so to get 1-2-3 is pretty awesome.”
“I was feeling the pressure a little at the top, it was running through my head, but I had to tell myself to land the top air, ski a run and let it happen from there in the final dual.
“I am really fit and healthy at the moment, the body is feeling great, so I am looking forward to going to Livigno and checking out the (2026 Olympic) course there and then finishing off at the World Championships (in St Moritz).
Cooper Woods also performed well finishing in seventh place, after going down to eventual winner Kingsbury in the quarter-finals. Jackson Harvey finished in 19th with George Murphy and Oliver Logan earning a share of 21st.
With two World Cup events remaining, Matt Graham is ranked third overall in the combined mogul standings, sixth in single moguls and fourth in dual moguls.
Both final World Cup events of the season will take place on the future 2026 Olympic venue in Livigno, Italy, with moguls on March 11 and dual moguls on March 12.
Ben Tudhope Finishes World Cup Season with Another Podium
Paralympic bronze medallist Ben Tudhope has shown he is in the form to be a contender at next week’s Para Snowboard World Championships, finishing the 2024/25 World Cup season with another podium performance in Colorado.
After finishing fourth last week in the first of two Snowboard Cross World Cup races at Steamboat Springs, Tudhope improved to third place for his seventh World Cup podium of the season from nine races.
The result saw Tudhope finish second on the 2024/25 Snowboard Cross World Cup standings and second in the Overall Para Snowboard World Cup.
Earlier this month he also finished the Banked Slalom World Cup season in second place.
“The final World Cup in Steamboat was an awesome way to wrap up the season,” said Tudhope. “The racing was tight, and I was stoked to come away with a third-place finish.Every run was a good battle.
“I locked in second place overall for the season, which is something I’m really proud of. Competing against the best and sharing it with the team.”
This week’s races were the final events before the 2025 Para Snowboard World Championships start at Big White, Canada next week.
Tudhope enters the event as the reigning LL2 Snowboard Cross World Champion, winning the event at La Molina two years ago. He also picked up bronze in the Banked Slalom.
He will be joined at the World Championships by Aaron McCarthyand Sean Pollard.
McCarthy will compete in his first World Championships in what has been a remarkable maiden international season, having already finished on top of the LL1 Europa Cup Banked Slalom standings.
Pollard (UL) is having a strong comeback season in which he has raced heavily on the Europa Cup circuit. He then moved up to World Cup racing this week in Colorado and was pleased with how he raced ahead of the World Championships.
“It was nice to get back in the gate at World Cup level,” said Pollard. “After some close racing I was happy to take sixth place on both days having raced an SBX World Cup in over five years.”
Tudhope, McCarthy and Pollard now head to the 2025 FIS Para Snowboard World Championships this week at Big White, Canada. Competition starts on Wednesday March 5th.
