Jakara Anthony wins Australia's first ever women's moguls gold at Beijing 2022
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E-mail Xinhua, February 7, 2022
Jakara Anthony won Australia's first gold medal at Beijing 2022 after winning the freestyle skiing women's moguls in Chongli, Zhangjiakou on Sunday.
The 23-year-old garnered 83.09 points from a combination of time, air and turns, becoming the first Australian female to win an Olympic medal in moguls.
"I am just over the moon. I'm just lost for words. This is an incredible feeling. I really feel like it was my best run on the course and I'm so proud that I was able to let myself ski like that."
"It's such an honour to represent Australia here in Beijing and to be taking home a gold medal, I really couldn't have asked for anything more," Anthony said.
Jaelin Kauf of the United States took the silver with 80.28 points, and Russian Olympic Committee athlete Anastasiia Smirnova had the bronze with 77.72.
Chinese skier Li Nan finished 15th in qualification round two and failed to qualify for the finals.
The Olympic moguls competition was expected to be a three-way battle among Anthony, Perrine Laffont of France and Japan's Anri Kawamura, who had shared the podium in different positions in nearly every international competition in 2021-2022 season.
However, defending champion Laffont had to settle for fourth and Kawamura could only finish fifth.
It was Anthony, who has landed outside the top three only once this season, that kept leading the way to the last round in Beijing, and her stability became the key to victory.
25-year-old Kauf is the fastest woman on the moguls World Cup circuit, and finished the last four seasons in the top 5 of the world. In the first qualifier, she posted the top result for the United States before clinching the silver medal.
"I'm just prepared to compete on the Olympic stage. I was skiing to win every single round, just wanted to walk away with absolutely no regrets," Kauf said.
