Moguls and bobsled World Cup podiums, boarder cross and aerials top 10s and sliders in World Cup action headline this weekend in winter sport.
Fifth World Cup Podium For ‘Bobsled’ Bree Walker
‘Bobsled’ Bree Walker continued her successful World Cup season, winning silver in the monobob in Winterburg, Germany behind USA’s Elana Meyers-Taylor.
The silver is Bree’s fifth podium of the season and moves her into second on the overall World Cup rankings. She also paired with brakewoman Kiara Reddingius in the two-woman bob, finishing eighth.
Pilot Ashleigh Werner also found the podium on the Europa Cup circuit, winning silver and bronze in the monobob double-header, before finishing fourth with brakewoman and summer Olympian Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr in the two-woman event in Innsbruck.
Moguls Podium and PB
The Australian moguls team had a double header event in Tremblant, Canada, with two World Cup events across consecutive days.
Jakara Anthony continued her outstanding season, winning silver in the second World Cup event, finishing just behind 2018 Olympic Champion Perrine Laffont of France. The medal is Jakara’s sixth podium of the season, and sees her in second place on the overall World Cup rankings.
Cooper Woods also achieved a World Cup personal best result of ninth in the first day of competition.
Triple Olympian Britt Cox (13th), Brodie Summers (13th) and James Matheson (16th) also made the final on day two. The moguls team will head to Deer Valley for the final World Cup event of the Olympic qualifying period.
Skeleton and Luge Slide Into Form
Jackie Narracott finished 11th in the Skeleton World Cup in Winterberg, Germany, with a scorching fourth-fastest time on her second run securing one of her best results of the season.
Jackie started with a 16th fastest 59.07, before nailing a 58.09 in her second run to move up to 11th, in the event won by Dutchwoman Kimberley Bos.
Townsville luge racer Alex Ferlazzo was back in action in Latvia, qualifying through the Nations Cup event to race the World Cup where he finished 24th.
Dani Scott Flips to Fourth in Le Relais
Danielle Scott has started 2022 off strongly, finishing fourth at World Cup event in Le Relais, Canada, moving her up to third place on the World Cup standings.
Danielle had a number of impressive jumps on the day, qualifying for finals in second place with her double full-full scoring 90.94 points, before increasing her degree of difficulty in the first round of finals, jumping triple back somersaults with her lay-tuck-full scoring 97.57 points to advance to the super final in second place.
Scott added an extra twist to her triple back somersault jump in the super final, performing a full-tuck-full, but unfortunately was marked down on her landing to score 79.89 points, putting her in fourth position.
Taking the win was Chinese jumper Mengtao Xu who scored 103.92 points, with Canadian Marion Thenault in second with 93.41 and anther Chinese athlete Fanyu Kong rounding out the podium in third place with a score of 92.70.
Also in action for Australia was Abbey Willcox in 15th, Laura Peel 16th and Gabi Ash 17th. In the men’s event Wesley Naylor placed a personal best 24th.
Finals for Snowboard Cross in Russia
Australian boardercross athletes hit the course in Krasnoyarsk, Russia for a World Cup event doubleheader, with Australians just missing the podium on three occasions.
In the first event, Belle Brockhoff made the big final, finishing fourth, with 2020 Youth Olympic champion Josie Baff finishing in ninth. On the men’s side, Adam Dickson made the small final, finishing seventh, Cam Bolton 13th, Adam Lambert 17th and Jarryd Hughes 36th.
Belle again surged to make the big final and came close again in fourth, with Josie in 17th. Adam Lambert made the big final on the men’s side for Australia’s third fourth-place finish of the weekend, with Adam Dickson in sixth, Cam in ninth and Jarryd in 17th.
While just missing the podium, six top-10 finishes across the two days of competition shows the depth and talent of the boardercross team.
Snowboard and Freeski Grand Prix in Mammoth
Snowboard and freeski halfpipe and slopestyle athletes battled it out at California’s Mammoth Mountain at the US Grand Prix and World Cup.
In the snowboard halfpipe, Valentino Guseli finished in 13th with a score of 67.66, just missing the top-12 final. Emily Arthur scored 54.80 to finish 14th in the women’s event.
Abi Harrigan flew the Aussie flag in the women’s ski slopestyle, finishing 24th with a score of 35.00, while Matt Cox took on the snowboard slopestyle, finishing 22nd with 61.50.
