Australia’s Jakara Anthony exclusive: It’s all about the one percenters at Winter Olympics 2026

Jakara Anthony is embracing the pressure that comes with the Olympics

“It’s going be different going into these Games as reigning champion,” Anthony acknowledged ahead of the Games.

“I didn’t experience pressure going into the last Games and I probably still don’t know what they’re going to be,” she says.

But she has an upbeat interpretation of what the expectation is of her bringing home a second gold medal.

“You could interpret that as pressure, or you can interpret it as, like, ‘it’s super cool that people are looking up to me like that and have that kind of belief in me.’”

Anthony is choosing the latter, seeing it as her fans belief in her ability to repeat her Beijing win.

Her optimistic take is characteristic of her as a person. After Beijing 2022, Anthony suffered a collarbone injury requiring surgery, one that resulted in her missing most of the competition season the year prior to the Olympics.

“I think it was a good break mentally,” says Anthony listing off the events she was excited to experience during her summer at home, a rarity for winter athletes from the Southern Hemisphere.

“I got my first summer at home in fifteen years,” she says. “I got to go to my first Tennis Grand Slam and World Superbikes at Phillip Island, and all sorts of things over the summer.”

“Recovery comes with all sorts of challenges, mental and physical,” says Anthony, “but I’m really happy with where everything’s at at the moment.”