‘Put the blinders on’: how Jakara Anthony can make Winter Olympics history
In less than 30 seconds on a field of icy bumps pitched steeper than most recreational ski runs, Australian freestyle skier Jakara Anthony will try to do what no woman ever has,She will attempt to defend her title from Beijing 2022 and win back-to-back Olympic gold in moguls,At 27, Anthony is Australia’s greatest gold medal hope at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics,She is the most successful Australian World Cup skier ever, she carried the flag at the opening ceremony last week and featured on the cover of Vogue in January,The latter a rare crossover moment that underlines how Olympic gold can propel an athlete into the national consciousness.
But moguls is a sport that does not care for expectation,And history suggests that even the very best rarely repeat,Only one mogul skier, Canada’s Alexandre Bilodeau, has ever won Olympic gold twice in a row,No woman has managed it,“There are very few people who do back-to-backs in any sport,” says Ann Batelle, a four-time Olympian turned professional moguls coach in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
“Livigno’s course is 28 degrees which is steeper than many – ours in steamboat is 25 degrees,That makes it even more challenging,In my opinion, it’s a good thing, because it will separate the best athletes,”Anthony arrives in Italy ranked world No 1, with a résumé unmatched in Australian winter sports,Her trophy cabinet includes 26 World Cup gold medals and seven Crystal Globes – the esteemed trophy awarded to the athlete who accumulates the highest points total in their discipline across a World Cup season.
Raised in Barwon Heads, Anthony began skiing moguls at Mount Buller and joined the World Cup circuit at just 15.Her 2024 season was one of the most dominant ever recorded in women’s moguls: 14 wins from 16 starts and three Crystal Globes in a single campaign.For audiences unfamiliar with moguls, the event might look chaotic: skiers bouncing down Livigno’s 235-metre field of icy mounds at speed, launching aerials off two jumps before sprinting to the finish.But speed accounts for just 20% of the total score.Another 20% comes from jumps.
The remaining 60% is judged on turns.Judges reward smooth carved turns rather than skidding, with controlled absorption as skiers’ legs compress and extend over each mogul.Batelle, whosemountain base of Steamboat has produced more Olympians than any other town in the US, says the best runs look almost calm.“Your legs stay together, your arms are out in front, your upper body is quiet,” she says.“You ski the line that water would take if you poured a pitcher at the top of the course.
”This is where Anthony separates from the field.“She makes a really nice carve,” Batelle says.“Her upper body doesn’t move.Her hands are perfect.She’s incredibly clean and makes very few mistakes.
”The Australian is also peaking at the right time.After missing most of last season with a broken collarbone, she returned this winter with three World Cup wins.Her most recent victory came in January at Waterville Valley in the US, where she was the only woman to break the 80-point barrier, scoring 81.17.The 2018 Olympic champion, France’s Perrine Laffont, remains Anthony’s biggest threat.
Laffont finished fourth in Beijing and the notoriously fast 27-year-old is again chasing the podium,The 2022 silver medallist, American Jaelin Kauf, has 16 career World Cup wins and 50 podiums,She dominated the World Cup season while Anthony was injured, winning the overall, single and dual moguls Crystal Globes,Another threatening American, 20-year-old Elizabeth Lemley, is returning from an ACL injury but in remarkable form – finishing second to Anthony at Waterville,Added to this deep field is the unique pressure of the Olympic spotlight: two weeks of intense global media attention as winter sports briefly dominate the mainstream sporting consciousness once every four years.
“Right now, expectations on Jakara are that she will win a second gold,” Batelle says.“If she doesn’t win, it will likely be seen as a failure to the media and to many people – which is brutal.”Anthony has spoken about how the weight of an Olympic campaign shifts with each Games.“Each Winter Games has been a different experience for me,” she said in January.“My first one was going in with no real expectations, then the second as a gold medal favourite … These ones I’ll be going in as the defending champion.
There’s still a lot to learn.”Batelle’s advice is for Anthony to “put the blinders on”.“If she starts thinking, ‘I have to win again,’ it will mess with her,” she says.“Just ski – and Jakara knows how to ski.”Gold in Beijing made Anthony a household name.
Milano Cortina will determine whether that moment stands alone or marks the beginning of something unprecedented.
Perth festival 2026: Swan River bursts to life with a stunning trail of stories and light
From dazzling light installations to unexpected conversations on pop-up phones, Perth festival has opened with a timely celebration of culture and communityGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailAs families gather for sunset at Perth’s Kings Park, a giant golden orb glows on the horizon, shooting ribbons of light into the night sky.“It looks like an upside down jellyfish!” a child shouts gleefully, gazing up at this mysterious beacon. Others watch from park benches or drift slowly around its base, as a gentle wash of sound spills from its centre. The work is called Karla Bidi, translating to “fire trail” in Noongar: a light and sound installation that draws on the ancient practice of lighting campfires along the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River), which marks the opening of this year’s Perth festival.Featuring 11 installations stretching from Mandoon (Guildford) to Walyalup (Fremantle), Karla Bidi lights a path between communities along the river – a trail of gathering places that recalls how these banks have always been a place for story and connection
Porky Pig and Daffy Duck: ‘Jacob Elordi! That hair! Those dreamboat eyes!’
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The Guide #229: How an indie movie distributed by a lone gamer broke the US box office
Two very unusual films were released last weekend. One you will have absolutely heard of: Melania, the soft-focus hagiocumentary of the US first lady, which was plonked into thousands and thousands of often entirely empty cinemas across the globe by Amazon and Jeff Bezos in what is widely perceived as a favour-currier to the White House. Melania’s $7m takings in the US were marginally better than forecasted (and far ahead of the risible numbers for the film elsewhere) but, given the documentary’s vast cost, still represents a dramatic loss (especially if the rumour that Amazon paid for the film to be in some cinemas is true). Then again, this was a rare multimillion dollar film where the primary marker of success was probably not financial.The other unusual film released last weekend you are less likely to have heard of, even though it dwarfed Melania’s takings
My cultural awakening: Bach helped me survive sexual abuse as a child
For pianist James Rhodes, the composer’s music expressed feelings that he could not put into words – and kept helping him as his mental health suffered in adulthoodWhen I found a cassette tape of the Bach-Busoni Chaconne, aged seven, it’s how I imagine a kid would feel seeing Messi play football and thinking: I have to do that with my life. By then, I had already been sexually abused by a teacher for two years, and despite showing all the signs of trauma – night terrors, twitching, wetting the bed, constant stomach aches – I obediently kept his secret. To me, the world was a war zone of pain. I was a shy, awkward, lonely kid, but alone in my bedroom with that piece of music, I found a little bit of light that was just for me. Hearing it for the first time was almost a religious experience
From Lord of the Flies to Deftones: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Adolescence writer Jack Thorne takes on the classic tale of deserted schoolboys, while the US band warm up for a pummelling summer of alt metal100 Nights of HeroOut nowMaika Monroe plays a woman shut up in a castle with her husband’s handsome and seductive best friend (Nicholas Galitzine) who has made a wager that he can tempt her to stray from her marriage. Sharp-witted maid Hero (Emma Corrin) clocks what’s going on and does her best to foil the dirtbag’s schemes, in this fairytale fantasy from Julia Jackman. Charli xcx also stars.My Father’s ShadowOut nowṢọpẹ́ Dìrísù (Slow Horses) stars in a semi-autobiographical debut from Akinola Davies Jr in which an estranged father travels through the city of Lagos in Nigeria with his two young sons during a day of violent unrest following the 1993 election crisis.HamletOut nowSomething is rotten in the state of England: Riz Ahmed plays Shakespeare’s famous Dane as a scion of a wealthy British South Asian family in Aneil Karia’s modern take on probably the most famous play of all time
Austin Butler to play Lance Armstrong in big-screen biopic
The Oscar-nominated actor Austin Butler is scheduled to take on the role of the disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong in a buzzy new biopic.According to Deadline, the package has caused a “frenzied” bidding war in Hollywood with the Conclave director Edward Berger at the helm and King Richard’s Zach Baylin set to write the script.Producer Scott Stuber, who recently worked on Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, has been working to secure Armstrong’s life rights for a while and a deal has now finally been agreed. Armstrong will be involved in the film but will not have a producing credit.The hope is for the film to be a cross between F1 and The Wolf of Wall Street
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