No ordinary jump

17^th of March 2017. The sky over the Sierra Nevada in Spain was hung with stars, and the stage was set for the Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships’ Big Air final. As Austrian Anna Gasser took off for the last of her three jumps over the giant kicker, the audience was electrified. This was no ordinary jump. Gasser had set herself the ‘Backside Double Cork 1080’ - a move with three turns around the body axis and two somersaults. As she whirled through the air, Gasser reached a height of around five meters, flying more than twenty meters before landing perfectly.

“I was almost a bit shocked that I had managed the jump”, admitted Gasser a little later. Her surprise was understandable given that - until that point – not a single woman had ever done the jump in a competition. For the first time in history, the judges awarded a perfect score of 100 points – along with the world championship title. Gasser modestly explained of her success: “I had been thinking about the jump for so long and finally I manned up to do that.”

Though already a star on the scene, the world championship title turbo-charged the Austrian’s career. A year on from that triumphant performance she took gold at the Olympic premiere of Big Air in Pyeongchang 2018. Four years later in Beijing, she was unbeatable. Last year the medal collection was added to with World Championship gold in Bakuriani (Georgia). Who knows what’s next for the great Anna Gasser?