Jakara Anthony and Matt Graham named Australia’s flag-bearers for Olympic opening ceremony

Livigno: Mogul skiers Jakara Anthony and Matt Graham will be the Australian flag-bearers for the opening ceremony of the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.

Australian chef de mission Alisa Camplin announced the appointment at a ceremony in Livigno – the location of the freestyle skiing and snowboard events for the Games – on Wednesday morning (Wednesday night AEDT).

Anthony, the reigning Olympic champion, said she was stunned when Camplin told her she would carry the flag in Livigno.

“Growing up, my dream was to win an Olympic gold medal,” Anthony said.

“And then, you probably don’t even think flag-bearer is a feasible thing. You know it’s one person at the opening ceremony per Olympics – now one male, one female – and then once I started going to the Olympics and getting more exposure, I realised how special it was and how much meaning was behind it.

“I definitely then set my sights on it, but until this year, it was never even an option for us because we never attended the opening ceremony [because of the schedule clash].”

Camplin said Anthony was an obvious choice to carry the flag for the ceremony on Friday night in Italy, which gets underway at 6am on Saturday in Australia.

“Jakara Anthony is the epitome of poise and excellence,” Camplin said. “Her measured, yet dogged pursuit of perfection has set her apart from her competitors for an entire Olympiad.”

Anthony will attempt to be the first Australian to defend a Winter Olympics gold medal when she begins her 2026 Olympic campaign on February 10.

Anthony said she had allowed herself to consider what being a back-to-back Olympic champion would be like, but that she couldn’t focus on the result when she sets out for her run.

“Being completely honest, of course, I would like to be in that position and take home another gold medal,” Anthony said.

“But we’ve got a field of 30 girls out there, with most of them trying to achieve the same thing. So, it’s not going to be an easy feat.

“We’ve done everything that we can to put me in the position where I can put down the run that I’m capable of, and then hopefully the result comes from that.”

Anthony arrives in Livigno as the world No.1 following an outstanding World Cup season.

Graham was a silver medallist at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang and is competing at his fourth, and likely last, Olympics.

“An Olympic gold medal has always been on my bucket list – yet to be achieved – climbed a couple of steps, but not the third,” he said.

“A flag-bearer, once you start to participate in the Games, you realise the gravity of the whole thing. And then also watching previous Olympics as a child, watching the likes of Alisa Camplin, Stephen Bradbury, all these mega stars in Australia and Australian icons among the winter and summer sports.

Graham’s Olympic campaign begins on February 10 in the men’s moguls qualifying.

The first Australian in action will be 18-year-old Daisy Thomas, who makes her Olympic debut when she competes in the women’s slopestyle qualifying on Saturday.

With a team of 53 athletes who have won a combined 26 World Cup medals across the 2025-26 season, Australia is on track to have its best Winter Olympic result in history.

“It’s been a pretty phenomenal lead-up. Not to mention those medals have come across the entire age range of the team, from our debutants – Indra Brown, who just turned 16 – right through to Scotty James, Matt Graham, the guys going to their fourth and fifth Olympics,” Anthony said.

“That depth in our team is huge now, and it’s across so many sports. Last Olympics, winning our first medal in sliding. We’ve got medals in freestyle skiing, snowboarding, and coming into these Games with those results, and probably more people that have potential to land themselves on the podium as well, it’s going to be an exciting couple of weeks here.”

The Winter Olympic Games will be broadcast on the 9Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.

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