Australian mogul skier Jakara Anthony’s love of surfing, endless winters and quest for back-to-back Games gold

Jakara Anthony was born in the tropics but is carving a career as one of Australia’s top Winter athletes. She talks about her love of surfing, quest for back-to-back gold and living in eternal winters.

For someone who was born in Tropical North Queensland and grew up in coastal Victoria, Jakara Anthony admits ending up as a champion on the snow is perhaps a little “odd”.

When she’s not dominating mogul runs in the northern hemisphere winter, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic gold medallist is equally as comfortable chasing waves when she returns to her hometown of Barwon Heads during her limited off-season in Australia.

As Anthony prepares to launch into a new World Cup campaign in Ruka, Finland, this weekend after a record-breaking 2023-24 moguls season, the 26-year-old recharged her batteries surfing her home break at 13th Beach.

“I absolutely love being down the beach there, despite doing a winter sport,” Anthony said from Finland this week.

Mogul Skiing star Jakara Anthony was born in the tropics. Picture: Chris Hocking

“I had bits and pieces at home this year, which was nice. I loved getting in for a surf when I was home, I was lucky to get pretty good waves every time I was home, so I will take that.

“I try to surf 13th Beach when I can because that is my home break, but I head down to Torquay a bit and just anywhere from Jan Juc out to Bells, along the reef breaks there.

“I try to get around to a few different breaks when I am home.”

Spending nine months of the year living out of a suitcase, mostly during the frigid months in the northern hemisphere, Anthony certainly earned the downtime after one of the most dominant World Cup campaigns in history.

Loading up on trophies, Anthony won a staggering 14 out of 16 FIS World Cup events – the most of any moguls skier in history.

Anthony’s unmatched season handed her the hat-trick of World Cup winner’s crystal globes for the singles, dual and overall moguls champion.

Jakara Anthony had a record-breaking World Cup season in 2023-24. Picture: Chris Hocking

Even after an off-season taking in the sea air, Anthony admits it was a campaign she was still finding it hard to encapsulate.

“Last season was incredible, it is still hard to summarise it,” Anthony said.

“What me and my team were able to go out there and achieve, it was really special to not only just come away with those results but to put down some really solid runs in all kinds of conditions at all the different World Cups.

“No mogul course is ever the same, even a mogul course from run to run, they are so different.

“It was just insane, results wise, it was awesome. But also with the technical aspects of my skiing and everything that we were trying to achieve and what we could do in training, that was also really cool as well.

“So we will be going into this season and just trying to keep working on stepping up each of those aspects and keep progressing them as we go throughout the season and see where we can get to.”

Anthony returned to Finland earlier this month with her fellow Australian mogul skiers to prepare for a long World Cup season, which will conclude with the world championships in St Moritz in late March.

Describing Finland as like a second home due to the amount of time she spent training and competing there, Anthony is already acclimatised to the limited daylight hours.

“It’s a little bit like being in a snow globe, sort of, it is very dark this time of year,” Anthony said.

“We are probably getting about four hours of daylight during the day because we are so far north.

“But it’s a pretty cool place. We love coming here to train, so we are pretty lucky to get that opportunity.”

As a winter athlete from the southern hemisphere. Anthony spends her life jumping from one winter season to the next.

Anthony admitted she sometimes craved a hot summer, but was aware endless winters came with the territory.

“I definitely crave summer, but eternal winter is what comes with the nature of the sport,” Anthony said.

“I’m pretty lucky to get to travel to some really cool places, but if I had my choice for a holiday, I’m definitely going to go somewhere warm.”

But the summer vacations might be on hold for a while with an Olympic campaign on the horizon in Milano-Cortina in 2026 when she will be aiming to defend her moguls gold and claim the first on offer in another event.

“I’m looking forward to the Games, I definitely want to go back-to-back,” Anthony said.

“It is also going to be really exciting at those Olympics, dual moguls are going to be in it for the first time, so we are actually going to have two opportunities for a medal. So I’m really looking forward to that as well.

“On the World Cup tour, we are competing in dual moguls anyway, we always have been. It has just taken a little while to get that across the line into the Olympics.

“I know some people have been working really hard behind the scenes so we are really grateful for the opportunity to finally get to show it off on the big stage.”

The 2026 Games would be Jakara Anthony’s third Winter Olympics. Picture: OWIA, Chris Hocking

The 2026 Games would be Anthony’s third Winter Olympics – not bad for a kid born in tropical Cairns, who grew up near some of Victoria’s most famous stretches of surf.

“It’s an odd one, isn’t it, especially being born in Cairns as well,” Anthony said of how she ended up carving a career on the snow.

“My parents actually met at Mount Buller when they were younger, they were both seasonal workers up there.

“I’ve got a younger brother and then when they had us, they decided for winter every year we would go up to Mount Buller and they would work on the hill and we would go to the primary school and we would go skiing together because skiing was something that they recognised we would be able to do as a family forever.

“So I am really grateful that they were able to give us that opportunity. It’s been pretty special.

“But I think it went a little further (for me) than they intended it to.”

Originally published as Australian mogul skier Jakara Anthony’s love of surfing, endless winters and quest for back-to-back Games gold