Skateboard – Street

Australian street skater Chloe Covell has won silver at the Street World Championships in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, earning valuable ranking points towards qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

In the best trick section, Chloe scored an impressive 83.92 and 83.53 points to take her to a total score of 253.5, just 2.07 points behind the winner Leal Rayssa (BRA), with Japan’s Momiji Nishiya rounding out the podium in third.

"I'm very excited and very grateful. I get to skate for my country and it means a lot to me,” the 12-year-old skater said.

"I was a little bit scared when I crossed out the first trick because I knew I needed to get at least two of my best tricks and I did that.”

“I am very proud of the crook nollie flip that I did. I've been practising that all week."

The world championships medal is another outstanding accomplishment for Chloe, who is the youngest athlete in history to win two X Games medals before the age of 13.

Australia had five skaters place top-20 in the Street World Championships. In the women’s competition were Liv Lovelace (10th), Haylie Powell (14th) and Flic Turner (20th), while Rome Collyer finished 20th on the men’s side.

A further 15 skateboarding Aussies are set to be in action with the beginning of the Park World Championships, which runs from 5-12 February. The semi-finals and finals will be streamed live via the Olympic Channel.

The next stop for the street skaters on the road to Paris 2024 will be Rome, Italy from 18-25 June on the World Skateboarding Tour.

Snowboard – Halfpipe and Slopestyle

With two silver medal-winning performances in World Cup competition this week, Valentino Guseli cemented his reputation as a triple-discipline star by becoming the first person ever to win a World Cup medal in the snowboard halfpipe, slopestyle and big air in the same season.

The 17-year-old, who competed in the men’s halfpipe and slopestyle at Mammoth Mountain in the USA on Sunday, started the halfpipe final with his best run of the day, scoring 85.25 points.

He performed the massive switch method that has been his signature this season, before going switch frontside 1080 indy, then a frontside 1260 tail grab, a backside 900 weddle, and finally a near-perfect frontside 1440 tail grab. Only Ruka Hirano (JPN) could top it, as he finished in first place with 91.50 points.

The slopestyle final was cancelled due to high winds, which meant scores from qualifying determined the final results. Valentino’s best score from qualifying, 81.50, earned him the silver medal behind American Dusty Henricksen (88.68).

Asked to reflect on his historic season, Valentino was still very much in the moment.

“Wow. I guess I’m not really feeling it too much yet, but I’m honoured. I’m so hyped. I just want to keep pushing - for podiums, wins, records…I guess (laughing). But really I just want to keep loving my life and snowboarding and hanging out with awesome people and being in awesome situations like this one,” the Olympian said.

Valentino’s big air World Cup podium performance this season came in December which he took gold from in Edmonton, Canada. He also won his first ever X Games medal with a bronze in Aspen, USA, last week.

The snowboard athletes now head to Calgary, Canada, for the next round of World Cup competition with the halfpipe event on the 10th of February and slopestyle on the 12th of February.

Freestyle Skiing - Moguls

Australian Olympic mogul skiers Matt Graham and Jakara Anthony recorded an incredible double gold medal performance at the World Cup event in Deer Valley, USA, becoming the second Australian pair to achieve victory on the same day.

The result is extra special for Matt as it’s his first victory in the single moguls discipline since Calgary in 2017, which was the last time Australia claimed victory in the men’s and women’s moguls on the same day.

Deer Valley is a blue ribband World Cup event for mogul and aerial skiing. Matt qualified for finals in third place, and then stepped it up in finals scoring 81.27 in the first round of finals to advance to the super final medal round in first place.

In the super final, Matt put down an incredible run to score a huge 85.35 on the steep and difficult course, to finish ahead of Mikael Kingsbury of Canada's 83.65 points.

“It’s a surreal feeling, I went back-to-back with Britt Cox in 2017 in Calgary, and now to get the back-to-back wins with Jakara is super special,” said the 28-year-old Olympic silver medallist from the NSW Central Coast.

“It was a tough long day today, the course was eating people all day, I was just happy to find my line and rip it each run.”

“I was having so much fun here at Deer Valley, I love this event, had my first ever win here in 2016 so it’s good to be back up here and stand on top of the podium.”

The victory is the fourth of Graham’s career and his 20th World Cup podium placing.

Jakara Anthony headed into the event with the yellow leaders bib and continued her strong form, recording the eighth World Cup victory of her career with a score in the super final of 80.15 points.

She was thrilled to share the victory with her teammate.

“It’s incredible, the last time was Matt and Britt Cox, so to take that top step with Matt, who I have taken a second place with before and to now take the top step is absolutely incredible and he ripped out there, his run was phenomenal,” the Olympic champion said.

After five events the 24-year-old from Barwon Heads in Victoria is in first place on the World Cup standings, holding an unassailable lead in the season rankings with only one event left in early March.

Freestyle Skiing - Aerials

Triple-Olympian Danielle Scott produced the highest scoring jump of her career to win gold at the aerial skiing World Cup in Deer Valley, USA.

The two-time world championships medallist qualified in first place for the finals and then switched to triple somersaults for the first time this season.

In the medal round Danielle performed a lay-full-full, double twisting triple back somersault to score a massive 115.20 points, the highest scoring women’s jump of the season and her best ever to claim her seventh career win.

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Second place went to Canadian Marion Thenault who scored 97.99 points, with Chinese skier Fanyu Kong rounding out the podium in third with 94.11 points.

“I am lost for words actually, I am so pumped,” Danielle said.

“Everything went to plan, and to finally be doing triples again, it just feels so awesome, and I can’t wait for more girls to be doing them.”

“I am looking forward to the World Championships, got to keep building, I have a bit more degree of difficulty in the bag, and have to keep doing jumps like this.”

The victory sees Danielle move into number one on the World Cup rankings with two events remaining for the season in March. She leads with 282 points, clear of Canadian Thenault on 275 and Aussie Laura Peel in third place with 182.

The aerial skiers now set their sights on the FIS World Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia from 21-22 February.

Shooting

Tokyo 2020 Olympian Sergei Evglevski won World Cup silver in the 25m rapid fire event, competing in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In the final he hit 28 of the 40 targets, which was tied with Nikita Chiryukin (KAZ) for best in the final. A shoot-off was required to determine the gold and silver medallists, which Chiryukin won 3-2.

Fellow Olympian Dane Sampson was in Pilsen, Czech Republic for the ISSF Grand Prix over the weekend and has won gold in the men’s 10m rifle.

Hockey

Hockey Australia has bestowed its highest individual honour on former Hockeyroo Sharon Buchanan OAM who becomes the latest ‘Legend’ of Australian hockey.

Sharon joins fellow Hockeyroos Rechelle Hawkes and Alyson Annan on the esteemed Legends list, which also includes Ric Charlesworth and Julian Pearce.

Heralding from Busselton in Western Australia, Sharon was selected for the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games as a 17-year-old. However, due to the boycott she would have to wait until March 1981 to make her Hockeyroos debut.

The talented midfielder would go on to compete at the next three Olympic Games, including the historic 1988 gold medal winning team in Seoul.

She was named in the World XI team three times and captained the Hockeyroos from 1989-1993 in an international career that comprised 186 matches (which at the time was an Australian record) and 57 goals.

Also over the weekend, five Olympians were inducted to the Hockey Australia Hall of Fame.

Lachlan Dreher (VIC)
One of Australia's longest serving hockey players in career that spanned 14 years (1989-2022), the gifted goalkeeper represented the Kookaburras 162 times, which included three Olympic Games, three world cups and 12 champions trophies.

Rachel Imison OAM (WA)
The goalkeeper became an Olympic gold medallist, triple Olympian, three-time champions trophy winner and dual Commonwealth Games gold medallist across 207 international appearances. Her standout tournament was arguably the Sydney 2000 Olympics, where she was a wall on the last line of defence as the Hockeyroos conceded just five goals in eight games on their way to gold. Her on-field performances and off-field demeanour and professionalism has made her a role model for many aspiring Australian goalkeepers.

Alison Peek OAM (SA)
One from the Hockeyroos golden generation, the midfielder was a constant star performer throughout the team’s successful and dominant period of the 1990s. A dual Olympian, she was a member of the team that won gold at Sydney 2000. ‘Peeky’ is also a two-time world cup winner and won four champions trophies over her decorated 222 game and seven goal international career.

Daniel Sproule (TAS)
Making his Kookaburras debut at the 1994 Champions Trophy, the defender went on to play 188 internationals (scoring 6 goals), his speed, defensive ability and passing making him a valuable piece of the Kookaburras setup. He won two Olympic bronze medals (1996, 2000), Commonwealth Games gold in 1998 and one champions trophy title.

David Wansbrough OAM (VIC)
The skilful midfielder competed at two Olympic Games (1988, 1992). He was an integral member of both Olympic teams, with Barcelona the standout as he scored a hat-trick in the Kookaburras’ opening match against Argentina before the team went on to win a silver medal. Vice-captain of the Kookaburras from 1991-93, David ended his international playing career after 202 appearances and 34 goals.

Beach Volleyball

After Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar lost to Brazilian pair Eduarda Lisboa and Ana Patricia Ramos last week in the World Pro Tour semi-finals, they bounced back to beat them in the World Pro Tour Elite 16 quarter-finals on the weekend 2-1 (17-21, 21-13, 15-12).

A tight straight-sets loss followed in the semis against Raïsa Schoon (NED) and Katja Stam (NED), but Taliqua and Mariafe put that behind them to win the bronze medal match 2-1 (12-21, 21-15, 15-10) against Anastasija Kravcenoka (LAT) and Tina Graudina from Latvia.

Football

Dual-Olympian Matilda Ellie Carpenter has made a successful return from an ACL tear, running out for a second-half stint with French club Lyon in a 5-0 win on Saturday.

Very proud and grateful to be back. I have learned a lot during these months about myself. The ones who have been there since day 1. Thank you, my support system has been second to none. Would not be here without you guys. I’m just getting started 💪🏽@olfeminin @matildas pic.twitter.com/KNPsSAolNN
— Ellie Carpenter (@CarpenterEllie) February 4, 2023

The injury sidelined her for almost nine months, and with her return she will be hoping to re-join the Matildas with the FIFA Women’s World Cup being staged in Australia and New Zealand this year.

Over in England, Harry Souttar made his Premier League debut with Leicester City in a 4-2 win.

Short Track Skating

Beijing 2022 short track speed skater Brendan Corey had a remarkable photo finish to his 1500m World Cup semi-final in Germany to advance to the A Final.

Then in the A Final Brendan finished sixth.

Weekend Wrap: 12-year-old Chloe Covell wins Skateboard World Champs silver and Guseli’s world-first achievement headlines snow sports medal haul