Jakara Anthony’s record-setting form has continued with the Australian claiming her ninth World Cup moguls victory of the season, in the process securing the Crystal Globe title for single moguls.
It was also a momentous day for fellow Aussie Cooper Woods, who broke through for his first career World Cup podium in Waterville Valley in the US state of New Hampshire.
Anthony again won every stage of the competition and in the super-final medal round scored 81.22 points to finish 9.49 points clear of second-placed Olympic silver medallist Jaelen Kauf of the US on 71.71 points.
Another American, Hannah Soar, rounded out the podium with 67.93 points.
Anthony now has 17 career World Cup wins and is one victory away from matching the legendary Dale Begg-Smith on 18 career victories.
"That's awesome, I kind of knew it in the back of my head, but all the focus was out there on the run, so to get the job done on a pretty tricky course I am over the moon,” said 25-year-old Anthony, who hails from Barwon Heads in Victoria.
“It’s crazy to have locked that up (Crystal Globe) so early (with two events remaining) and to have taken so many (wins) in a row.
"You can’t think about it too much, because that’s a pretty fragile stat there, but I am pretty stoked to have achieved that this season.”
In the men’s event, Woods has been showing great potential since finishing sixth at the 2022 Olympics.
Woods, from Pambula Beach in NSW, has qualified for finals in every event this season and has been close to the podium, so he will be relieved to claim the first World Cup medal of his career.
He ended the day with the silver medal, finishing ahead of Olympic champions Mikael Kingsbury of Canada and Walter Wallberg of Sweden in the men’s super-final.
Woods scored 81.04 points to finish second behind Japanese skier Ikuma Horishima, who took the win with a score of 85.84 points. Kingsbury was third with 80.07 points.
“Today was all different conditions,'' said 23-year-old Woods.
"It was firm this morning and as the weather changed the course changed, but all you can do is just focus on the one run, and I got the qualifications, finals, and then the super-final I left nothing back and it’s nice to see a score.''
Also in action for Australia was Olympic medallist Matt Graham, who reached the finals but finished 13th.
Teammates George Murphy and Oliver Logan were unable to complete their runs.
The World Cup action continues in Waterville with a dual moguls event scheduled for Sunday (AEDT).
“The plan (for Sunday) is keep things simple, keep things the same, focus on the one run, focus on my skiing and hopefully I come out on top,” Woods said.
