Thredbo One Hit Wonder 2012

Anna sizing up the jump

words by Anna Segal

This is the second year that I’ve participated in the Thredbo One Hit Wonder. The event started off in 2009 to showcase Australian snowsports on an internationals stage. Since then it has grown to attract some of the best free-skiers from around the world including, Jossi Wells, Dane Tudor, Bobby Brown and Gus Kenworthy.

The allure of this competition has always been the massive, immaculately built jump which Thredbo’s park crew spends weeks preparing. This year the jump measured 93 ft from the edge of the take-off to the beginning of the landing. This was the minimum distance we had to travel through the air to make it over this monstrosity, safely.

Just thinking about the size of the jump made me nervous, so I tried to keep it out of my mind until I could view it in real life. It was planned that the invited athletes would have a week to hit the jump, which would include one day for the “Peoples’ Choice” competition and one day for the AFP Gold ranked big air event.

With a jump of this size, the weather needs to be almost perfect. The weather gods weren't exactly co-operative, giving us a number of days of wind and/or rain. On the positive side of things, we had two perfect, blue bird days (better than none), allowing the event organisers to pull off both competitions. 

Anna tweaking her tails over the jump

The two days we were able to hit the jump were the two best days of my 2012 Southern Winter season! Over such a humungous jump, I really had time to think about my movements in the air. Once I had the speed dialed and was able to expel the fear from my mind, everything slowed down and became clearer.

So far, I've been the only girl to take part in the One Hit Wonder Down Under. Next year I'll be working with event organiser, Tim Myers, in an attempt to attract more female skiers to join myself and the boys for this amazing event! 


Vote for Anna here!


Anna Segal - People's Choice 2012 from One Hit Wonder Event on Vimeo.