Rarely in the life of a professional athlete is there much time to rest and relax, especially in the midst of a record-breaking campaign.
So perhaps it was a surprise to some to see reigning Olympic champion and Harry Potter fan Jakara Anthony wandering around Hogwarts at Universal Studios in Orlando.
“It’s fun when we can do more touristy things,” Anthony tells ABC Sport.
“The schedule can be pretty hectic, racing back-to-back and week after week, but we had a month-long break in the schedule, so we went to Universal Studios.
“It’s really cool to be able to have experiences like that.”
Universal Studios proclaims that the Harry Potter-themed amusement park is “an experience like no other,” which is quite appropriate.
He also promises a trip to Gringotts’ magical bank, which also fits nicely with Anthony’s year.
Because, aside from the obvious parallels of skiing with such grace and skill over the hard, icy bumps of the world’s toughest mogul courses as if he were flying over them on a broomstick, Anthony has collected enough gold this season to fill a vault whole.
On Thursday night, Anthony capped an impressive snow season by being crowned Female Athlete of the Year at the Snow Australia Awards in Melbourne.
It was a well-deserved accolade after the 25-year-old completed the sweep of the three Crystal Globes available to World Cup winners, in singles, doubles and overall champion.
Anthony’s unprecedented season of dominance saw the Barwon Heads skier win 14 of 16 World Cup mogul events.
Those 14 wins are the most of any mogul skier in history, three more than American legend Hannah Kearney’s previous mark.
In fact, Anthony equaled an all-time FIS World Cup record for ski and snowboard racers: Swiss alpine skiing superstar Vreni Schneider also recorded 14 wins during the 1989 season, in slalom and giant slalom competitions.
There is a very strong case to be made that she is currently Australia’s fittest athlete in any sport.
Yet despite the enormity of that success, Anthony remains more focused on the process than the whims of the judges.
“I don’t try to take an approach where I focus on results,” Anthony said.
“Of course, I want to go out and win every event, but I think most of the competitors are trying to do that.
“Unfortunately, the results are out of my control, but for me it’s about getting in and focusing on that process, doing all the little details that I need to be able to ski the race that I’m capable of doing.
“There were a few events where I had a little more trouble navigating the course and it wasn’t necessarily my favorite ski of the season, but I was still able to put together a really good performance there.
“I think I’m getting better at that by skiing the way I do on harder slopes, rather than just trying to go up and down and survive.
“I had some performances where I thought it was one of the best races I’ve ever completed, so it’s an amazing feeling too.”
In one of the only times Anthony didn’t win gold on the circuit this year, he won a bronze medal at the Dual Moguls event in Idre Fjäll, Sweden, in December.
The other time, ANthony made a rare mistake – “I just misread the conditions,” according to Anthony – at Deer Valley in February, though he recovered to win the Dual event the next night.
“That deer valley [victory] It was pretty special,” Anthony said.
“Every event was great, they all had different challenges, but that doubles final against Jaelen [Kauf] “It was one of the best skis I’ve ever competed on.”
It’s not necessarily a surprise that coming back from adversity, however fleeting this season, has been the highlight of the year for Anthony.
After all, the entire 2024 season was a comeback of sorts after the two-time Olympian took some time away from the slopes at the end of the 2023 campaign.
“I was in a pretty different place when I started this season compared to when last season ended,” Anthony said.
“Winning week after week always helps, but I had a lot of fun with the team and traveled with a really fantastic team.
“I’m very lucky to have them by my side. We had a great time this season.”
Anthony’s record-breaking campaign also earned him the Alex “Chumpy” Pullin Award for Outstanding Achievement.
Pullin, who died in a spearfishing accident in 2020, was a two-time world champion and competed in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics.
He also acted as flag bearer for the Australian team at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
“That was a real honor,” Anthony said.
“Chumpy’s has had a huge impact on everyone in the winter sports community, including myself.
“He has left a great legacy in the sport and it’s great that we were able to honor him that night. I feel very honored to take him home this year.”
After breaking into the upper echelon of women’s skiing with a fourth-place finish at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Anthony has really gone from strength to strength.
Her gold medal at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games in Zhangjiakou, Australia’s first in 12 years, was richly deserved and a fitting culmination of her rise to the top of her chosen field.
Now, with 22 career World Cup gold medals, Anthony finds himself in highly esteemed company.
Of the 29 Australians to have won World Cup events, only five-time Olympian Jackie Cooper (25) has had more wins than Anthony’s 22.
Anthony currently ranks third all-time among able-bodied Australian snowsports athletes in the number of podium finishes achieved in World Cup events with 41, level with pioneering aerialist Kirstie Marshall.
It’s a record that Anthony is in no mood to sit comfortably on, and for good reason.
While Anthony was the standout player in 2024, it was another excellent season for Australia’s snowsports athletes.
Across all Olympic and Paralympic disciplines, Australian athletes achieved 53 World Cup podiums and 18 victories, winning five Crystal Globes in total.
The next generation also stood up, with young Australians Lottie Lodge, a ski mogul of real promise, Daisy Thomas and the mixed snowboard cross team, taking home two silvers and a bronze, respectively, at the Olympic Games. Winter Youth in South Korea.
“It’s exciting to see how they are progressing in the sport,” Anthony said, noting that the senior team has a lot of interest in the juniors’ results throughout the year.
Meanwhile, teenage snowboarding sensation Val Guseli took home the male athlete of the year award after the 19-year-old took three World Cup podiums and topped the overall standings in the Park and Pipe events in 2024.
Guseli, one of the most talented snowboarders on the planet, also achieved a world record jump of 11.5 meters from a “hip” in Schilltorn, Switzerland, last month.
The teenager already has the highest recorded jump from a halfpipe with 7.3 meters, a record he set in 2021 and which he took from the legendary American Shaun White.
Ben Tudhope was named Men’s Paralympic Athlete of the Year for the sixth year in a row, while skier Georgia Gunew took the women’s crown.
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