Jakara Anthony has sensationally flopped in her bid to defend her moguls title at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, the freestyle skiing great crashing out during her final run to miss out on the medals.
Australia’s hottest favourite for a medal at the entire Games had looked an overwhelming favourite to become the first winter athlete from her country ever to successfully defend an Olympic title.
Yet after dominating the rest of the competition, leading the field in qualifiers and after the first run of the final, it all went wrong in the decisive second outing.
The last to go, one of the most dominant athletes in winter sport lost control as she was speeding over the humps on the Livigno course, stumbling and eventually coming to a halt, looking dispirited.
The shell-shocked 27-year-old from Victoria then battled on, hopes already crushed, to complete the course but her score of 60.81 meant she finished last of the eight finalists.
Her Aussie teammate Charlotte Wilson (75.17) came sixth, as the US celebrated a shock one-two with Liz Lemley taking gold (82.30) and Jaelin Kauf silver 82.30.
