Australian skier dominates Winter Olympics qualifier, unwinds with Grey’s Anatomy
“A little bit of everything. I build Legos, I watch Grey’s Anatomy“There’s a puzzle I’m doing – something that has nothing to do with mobile skiing,” he said. “I’m currently at the end of season eight. McDreamy is still alive. I’m not giving spoilers, I watched it from beginning to end. This is the third time this has happened.”
Jakara Anthony after winning the gold medal in Beijing.Credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Unlike when he won gold in Beijing four years ago, Anthony has friends and family in the Italian Alps, not to mention a sizeable crew of disinterested supporters. About a dozen of them wore special ice hockey-style jerseys that read ‘Australia’ on the front and ‘Jakara’ on the back.
“I can’t tell you how many there are. But there are quite a few of them and they are definitely cheering the loudest, which is pretty cool. I could hear them from above,” he said. “Not a lot of Australians come to our events because it’s too far to travel. This is their first time in Europe, one of my friends’ first time flying overseas.”
Other Australians in the women’s championships, first-time Olympian Emma Bosco and Charlotte Wilson, will get a second chance as they join Anthony in the final after finishing 17th and 28th respectively.
In the men’s qualifiers, Matt Graham secured his place by finishing 10th in Thursday’s final round, just 0.46 points ahead of the automatic threshold.
Matt Graham made it to the final.Credit: Getty Images
Graham won a silver medal in this event at the 2018 Winter Olympics but finished 29th in Beijing four years ago, competing just two months later while suffering from a broken collarbone.
Although he now had a chance at redemption through another medal, the 31-year-old wasn’t entirely satisfied with his performance.
“Not my best,” he said.
“I had a really good practice this morning, I ran out of time a bit in the mid section and lost my rhythm and got stuck a bit towards the bottom air in the last corner… but there is a lot of room for improvement and I will probably chase from the mid pack and not from the front.”
Meanwhile, Australian trio Cooper Woods (15th), Harvey Jackson (23rd) and George Murphy (26th) will have to get through the second qualifying round on Thursday morning.
Jackson held back tears as he described the pride he felt in wearing a green and gold uniform, and he did so with an American twang; He grew up in Colorado, where his father is from, but his mother is from Melbourne and moved to Australia in 2022 to pursue his World Cup dreams.
He tore his cruciate ligament towards the end of the following year and was out of action throughout 2024.
“It feels really good to finally be able to call myself an Olympian,” Jackson said.
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“It means a lot. It’s been a journey. It’s something I’ve dreamed of for a long time. I think the hard times and troubles make it even sweeter. It feels really good. It’s the proudest moment of my life so far.”
“My family is here. I have a good group of friends too. My family hasn’t watched me ski in a while. This is obviously pretty important and special.”
Harvey, 23, didn’t have to look far for inspiration during those grueling 14 months on the sidelines; He mentioned Graham’s post-Beijing journey and ultramarathon runner Nedd Brockmann as two examples he tries to follow.
“I read his book right before I injured my knee and really got into his story and approach,” he said of Brockmann. “He’s sort of an Australian icon now; a slightly different approach, a different story obviously. His passion, his courage and his determination… it was wild. It was quite a thing to follow.”
Winter Olympic Games will be broadcast on television 9Network, 9Now And Stan Sports.
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