Jakara’s eager to get back on the slopes

ABOUT three months ago, Barwon Heads resident Jakara Anthony was in Fjall, Sweden, for the final leg of the Fédération Internationale de Ski Freestyle Ski Moguls World Cup.

Though French skier Perrine Laffont had already locked in first place on the tour, Anthony was looking to secure second, having finished third the season before.

But rather than flying down the slopes of the Swedish mountains, Anthony found herself flying back to Australia due to the spread of the coronavirus.

Anthony said she was grateful to make it back to Australia when she did.

“I actually got back just two days before the official quarantine rule came into place, but I ended up quarantining myself anyway when I got home.”

Rather than ruminating on the events she is missing out on, Anthony is doing what she can to prepare for those still to come.

However, hundreds of kilometres from the snow, this is not simple.

“Barwon Heads isn’t a real winter sport town, so it’s pretty tricky to do any of the technical stuff here.

“We can’t train any of our on snow specific skills obviously, but I’ve got a pretty good home gym set up and a trampoline and some other bits and pieces, so I’m pretty well equipped to do everything I can at this time.

“It’s a lot of strength and conditioning training for me at the moment, and I’m sure it’s the same for every other athlete out there.”

Anthony has the 2020/21 World Cup season, and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics ahead of her, which says she is still “definitely looking forward to”.

But she remains optimistic about keeping her skills sharp, despite the unknowns ahead.

“Right now, it’s not too big a deal with the training. It’s actually kind of a good thing that we get to get on top of some things that we haven’t had time to before with the on-snow stuff.

“We have facilities up in Melbourne where we can ski on plastic ramps and jump into a dam to practice aerial tricks. Hopefully, once things open back up, we can go there and utilise that again. Otherwise there’s not a whole lot we can do about that while we’re at home.”

Anthony said she is eager to start skiing and competing again but wants safety to remain the priority.

“Hopefully we can go skiing before long, but who knows, everything’s just changing right now. But we don’t want to put anyone at risk just for us.”