The Australian’s Australian of the Year: Skiing sensation has the world at her feet

Moguls skier Jakara Anthony rode her way down the snowy slopes and into the record books last year.

Olympic gold medallist Jakara Anthony. Picture: Tony Harrington

Moguls skier Jakara Anthony rode her way down the snowy slopes and into the record books last year.

Not only did she win Australia’s only gold medal at the Winter Olympics, but she also recorded the most successful season by an Australian winter sports athlete in history.

The 24-year-old, who broke the nation’s 12-year winter gold medal drought at the 2022 Beijing Olympics in February, won every round of the women’s moguls to become Australia’s sixth winter gold medallist.

One month later, after claiming her 12th medal for the 2021-22 season from 13 starts, Anthony secured two coveted World Cup crystal globes as she finished the season as the world No.1 for both moguls skiing and dual moguls skiing.

It is these rafts of feats that have earned her a nomination for The Australian’s Australian of the Year.

Moguls skiing is a type of free skiing in which competitors descend a steep slope covered in mounds of snow with a focus on technical turns, aerial manoeuvres and speed.

“It’s an incredible way to finish off the season,” Anthony said after winning the crystal globes. “This is my first time taking the big globe and this is the first time we have had a dual mogul globe, so to be able to take that out just really shows how consistent I’ve been able to be this season at a really high level.

“It wasn’t easy – the women’s field is so high this year and everyone is really stepping up their game – so these feel extra special.”

But it may be fair to say that the 24-year-old was always destined to become a successful skier after her parents first met on the slopes of Mt Buller and raised her on the mountain.

Anthony, who now resides in Barwon Heads on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula, has cemented her place as one of the most dominant winter sports athletes in the world as she begins her campaign to score two further crystal globes.

By claiming a hat-trick of World Cup titles in December while competing across Europe in Finland, Sweden and France, Anthony is so far undefeated on tour for moguls skiing.

She left the famous Tour de France mountain, L’Alpe d’Huez, with the leader’s yellow bib, which she hopes she can cling onto for the remainder of the season.

“It’s a wild way to kick off the season with back-to-back wins,” Anthony said after her second win in Sweden.

“Coming in off winning the tour last year, (this season) is going to be really exciting.”

We encourage our readers to put in a nomination for The Australian’s Australian of the Year, which was first won in 1971 by economist HC “Nugget” Coombs. Prominent Australians can be nominated by filling out the form above, or sending an email to [e-mail]. Nominations close on Friday, January 20.