Australia completes its best start to the World Cup season with four more medals

It's been a huge opening month to the World Cup season for Australia's winter athletes and the best is yet to come with Scotty James' season debut making plenty of noise.

Australia's 2022/2023 World Cup season just keeps on getting better with three of its biggest stars claiming medals to cap off a brilliant opening month of the season.

In what is gearing up to be one of Australia's greatest seasons, five athletes have claimed gold across separate disciplines with Jakara Anthony leading the pack claiming her third gold.

Australian athletes have now won 10 medals across six events and Anthony, Scotty James and Danielle Scott leading their respective World Cup Championships.

Super Scotty puts together a near-perfect run

Scotty James put his stamp on the first event of the halfpipe World Cup season with an unbelievable run to score a whopping 99.00 points to win gold in Copper Mountain, USA.

James led the way through qualifying scoring 91.25, with teammate Valentino Guseli close behind in fourth scoring 84.25.

The 28-year-old was in impressive form from the jump in the final putting together what would have been the winning run in his first, scoring 97.00, if it weren't for going one better with his second.

Scoring 99 across the board even the announcer was stunned by the unbelievable run posing the question; "What will it take for him to get a 100?"

James’ run started with a switch McTwist, followed by a cab double cork 1440, frontside 1080, cab 900 and switch backside double cork 1260 to finish.

On his way to claiming his seventh World Cup gold, James had the opportunity to perform a victory lap for his final run, high-fiving the crowd down the halfpipe, his signature red gloves impossible to miss.

Delighted with his performance James made it no secret how happy he was with the opening trick and lauded his competitors for putting together impressive performances in Colorado.

“Definitely the highest score I have ever gotten in my life, and I am not going to lie, it might be one of the most satisfying runs I have ever done in my life,” James said.

“We worked pretty hard on the switch McTwist and I have to say I feel like I got some soul back. The progression is so rapid these days, and I am really happy to be a part of that, but I also thought that I wanted to make some new additions with some creativity, and as we would say as snowboarders get the soul.

“It was an amazing day, awesome event, everyone rode incredible and see you at the next one.”

The dream double podium for Australia wasn't to be with Guseli finishing in seventh scoring 82.50 in his first run and was unable to better it in the final two runs.

Instead, James was joined on the podium by Olympic bronze medallist Jan Scherrer who scored a massive 96.25 points to claim silver and Kaishu Hirano of Japan scoring 88.25 points winning bronze.

17-year-old Guseli's weekend wasn't over, however, also competing in the big air event in Copper Mountain.

In a very competitive qualifying heat, Guseli's second jump scoring 85.25 points wasn't enough to qualify through to the final, missing out by 0.50 points.

With the highest score of those that missed the final Guseli finished 11th overall, walking away with another 24 points for this season's World Cup.

Jakara the unstoppable

Jakara Anthony added another two medals to the trophy cabinet this weekend, winning gold in the moguls event, continuing her unbeaten run this season, and bronze in the dual moguls in Alpe d’Huez, France.

The 24-year-old led the way through the whole competition starting in qualifying, scoring 75.38 points, 0.07 points ahead of American Elizabeth Lemley.

In the first run of finals, Anthony was the lone athlete to crack the 80-point barrier for the event, scoring 80.68 points, well and truly ahead of the rest of the field with a 16.94 for her air score, two points higher than any of the other finalists.

The 2022 Olympic gold medallist crushed it yet again in the super final scoring 79.70 leading in both the air and turns scores to seal her 3.89 points victory.

Anthony has gone 3-0 in moguls and is also undefeated in Alpe d'Huez, winning the event last season a fact that stunned Anthony in her post-event interview.

"I hadn't realised I was undefeated here, that's pretty crazy. It's been a big couple of weeks so to come away with another win here I'm a bit lost for words," the Australian said.

Anthony was joined on the podium by France's Perrine Laffont who scored 75.81 points and Lemly with 74.75 points.

All three Aussies survived qualification in the men's event with Matt Graham leading the charge for the Australians but just missed the superfinal to finish in seventh with a score of 77.18 points.

Cooper Woods struggled in the finals, losing a number of points in his air and turns scores to finish in 15th with 55.80 points. Meanwhile, youngster Jackson Harvey was right behind Woods in 16th with 51.62.

Anthony claimed her second medal of the weekend in the dual moguls event winning bronze in an impressive small final against Austria's Avital Carroll.

The medal marked her fourth for the season so far across both moguls events securing the Australian's place at the top of the overall championship as she chases a potential triple crown in the back half of the season.

The 24-year-old was joined on the podium by Laffont in the silver medal position and Japan's Anri Kawamura who claimed her first dual moguls world cup gold.

Anthony praised her competitors following the event, finding the competitive nature of this season breathing life into the tour.

“I am very happy to be walking away with a third place today," Anthony said.

“The women’s field is so strong, and myself, Perrine and Anri keep tossing around those top few spots, so it’s pretty exciting to see that keep switching up and keeping it fresh the whole tour again.”

Josie Baff strikes in Italy

Australia's snowboard cross athletes had a doubleheader in Cervinia, Italy this weekend with youngster Josie Baff putting together four impressive runs in the second event to claim silver.

It was Belle Brockhoff that lead the Australian team in the first event, reaching the big final but not crossing the finish line to finish in fourth, picking up 50 cup points. Meanwhile, Baff was unable to make it out of the quarter-finals and had to settle for 10th.

Baff lead the way through the opening races before being thrown into a semi-final featuring multiple Olympic medallists, including Beijing 2022 gold medallist Lindsay Jacobellis.

The 19-year-old finished in second to qualify for the big final, vying for her second medal of the season against three World Cup winners. Baff held her own in the competitive final leading for most of the race.

It wasn't until a brilliantly timed jump from Great Britain's Charlotte Bankes that Baff gave up her lead, finishing 0.11 seconds behind the Briton to claim silver.

Bankes and Baff were joined on the podium by Chloe Trespeuch of France following a photo finish, in what was one of the tightest finals of the season so far.

Baff laid out her aim for the season post-race, looking to make the semi-finals in every event while praising the team's wax technicians for their work,

“Pretty overwhelmed, I am very happy with how I rode today, and after yesterday it was nice to be back on the podium for the second time,” said Baff.

“I am grateful for my wax technicians, my board was flying out of the start, I couldn't have done it without them and my coaches and the whole team.

“My goals have been top eight’s consistently, so hopefully I can keep that up and the podiums are a nice touch and a good reward showing my hard work is paying off.”