Jakara Anthony claims gold in Sweden World Cup event

Moguls ace Jakara Anthony has turned the tables on arch-rival Perrine Laffont, storming to gold in Sweden which was her 23rd World Cup victory.

After being relegated to second place in the opening World Cup event of the season in Ruka, Finland, last weekend behind Laffont, the Australian couldn’t be stopped at Idre Fjall.

The reigning World Cup champion got stronger as the event progressed, qualifying for the finals in second spot with a score of 77.39.

The 26-year-old then took out the first round of finals on 80.36, ensuring the Victorian star would be the final skier on course in the super final medal round.

Anthony found another gear for the super final, posting her highest score of the season with 82.94, to finish 2.05 points ahead of Laffont (80.89) with Canadian Maya Schwinghammer third (80.71).

Laffont dominated moguls before the rise of Australia’s Beijing Olympic gold medallist , and is returning after taking a break last season when Anthony won 14 of 16 events.

Joining Anthony in the women’s final was 19-year-old Charlotte Wilson, who had an impressive qualifying run in just her second World Cup start, advancing to the final in sixth place with a score of 72.84.

The teenager now holds the Australian record for qualifying for a World Cup final by a mogul skier with the least amount of starts.

Wilson finished 10th in the final with a score of 69.75 points, the first World Cup top-10 of her career.

But there was no stopping Anthony.

“It feels good to finish up in first place,” she said.

“I don’t think there was any more pressure than any other competition, I know what I am trying to achieve every time I am competing against the other girls but kind of just competing against myself in a way.”

In the men’s event, Matt Graham qualified for finals in fifth place but finished 11th, missing out on the top-six super final.

The men’s event was again won by Canadian Mikael Kingsbury, with Ikuma Horishima of Japan in second and local Swedish skier Walter Wallberg finishing third.

On Sunday, the mogul skiers will be back in action in Idre Fj?ll where they will compete in the first dual mogul World Cup event of the season.