MATT GRAHAM
Olympic Winter Games Attended
BIOGRAPHY
Matt Graham joined the Perisher Winter Sports Club mogul program as a six-year-old and immediately displayed a natural ability, dominating Australian junior events.
His first venture onto the world stage at fifteen was rewarded with 27th place in his World Cup debut in Deer Valley, USA. 2013 was a breakthrough year for Matt, where he demonstrated his ability to reach podiums at the highest level with a stunning fourth place at this first World Championships in Voss, Norway and finishing seventh at the Sochi Olympic Test World Cup event. Graham lists representing Australia in the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games as the proudest moment of his sporting career to date. His first Olympics resulted in a final where he took seventh place. He followed onto the 2014/15 season winning his first World Cup medal (silver) in Deer Valley, Utah, USA finishing the year ranked fifth in the overall Mogul Skiing World Cup standings. By now Graham was being recognised for his multiple top finishes in a field that boasts multiple Canadian World Cup winner, the dominating Mikael Kingsbury. Graham won the 2016 Ski and Snowboard Australia Athlete of the Year award after an outstanding and consistent season 2015/16, which saw him win a World Cup in Deer Valley beating Mikael Kingsbury and finish second overall in this season’s Moguls World Cup. The 2016/17 season began in early December with a silver medal in Ruka, Finland. At the end of January 2017 Graham repeated his victory over Kingsbury in Calgary winning another gold medal and stood on the winner’s podium with team mate Britt Cox – creating an historic double win for Australia in ladies and men. Graham headed into his second Olympic Games as the third ranked mogul skier in the world with four podium finishes from seven World Cup starts that season. In PyeongChang, Graham became Australia’s 11th Winter Olympic medallist and only second mogul skiing medallist when he won silver with a great run in the final. Graham had another great season in 2018-2019, highlighted by a World Championship silver medal in Deer Valley, USA. In Lake Placid, USA, Graham also added to his career World Cup medal tally with a third place podium finish. In 2019/2020, Graham came agonisingly close to the podium on multiple occasions, finishing in the top-6 super final in six out of eight events contested. Graham was ranked fourth on the World Cup standings after competing in his final event of the season in Tazawako, Japan. Graham had a spectacular 2020-2021 season, becoming the first Australian male mogul skier since Dale Begg-Smith to win the World Cup Crystal Globe as the number one ranked skier on the World Cup standings. Along the way Graham won three World cup medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze) and also claimed the silver medal at the Word Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan. At the second World Cup event of the 2021-2022 season, Graham suffered an unfortunate broken collarbone injury at the Swedish resort of Idre Fjall in mid-December, missing a number of Olympic Qualification events. Graham defied the odds to return earlier than expected in mid-January, Water Jump training at the Geoff Henke Winter Olympic Training Centre in Brisbane and back in the moguls in Ruka, Finland. Competing in his third Olympic Winter Games, Graham made a valiant effort to recapture his pre injury form, but was unable to complete his qualifications runs, finishing in 29th place. At the opening World Cup of the 2022-2023 season, Graham showed he was back, with a bronze medal performance in Ruka, Finland, in December. In early February, Graham and Jakara Anthony recorded an incredible double gold medal performance at the World Cup event in Deer Valley, USA, becoming the second Australian pair to achieve victory on the same day. For Graham, the result is even more special, as it’s his first victory in the single moguls discipline since Calgary in 2017, fittingly the last time Australia claimed victory in both events, when he did so with World Champion four-time Olympian Britt Cox. Two days later Graham had a silver medal result in the Deer Valley dual moguls. At the 2023 FIS World Championships Graham recorded an incredible double medal performance, becoming just the second Australian to ever win two medals at a FIS World Championships after Dale Begg-Smith's gold and silver in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, back in 2007. Graham has now collected an impressive four World Championship medals across his career and has won at least one medal at each of the past three World titles, which are held every two years. In the single moguls, The 2018 Olympic silver medallist placed fifth in the first round of finals with a score of 85.60 points, and then stepped it up in the super-final with a huge score of 88.90 points together with the fastest speed in 22.49 seconds to claim the silver medal. The following day Graham was in action in the dual moguls, and made a great start with victories in the round of 32 against British skier Thomas Gerken-Schofield and Kosuke Sugimoto in the round of 16 to reach the quarter final stage. After defeating Nick Page of the USA in the quarter-final, Graham then faced 2022 Olympic gold medallist Walter Wallberg of Sweden in the semi-final, going down 14-21 points. . In the duel for the bronze medal, Graham then defeated Pavel Kolmakov of Kazakhstan with a score of 20-15 for his second medal at the World Championships. Graham had to miss the Australian domestic winter in 2023, as he had a delayed start to the season as he recovered from shoulder surgery. Despite the limited number of training days compared to his rivals, Graham finished in seventh place at the opening World Cup event of the 2023-2024 season in Ruka, Finland, unlucky not to make it through to the super-final by one place. In his first event in 2024, Graham won his first World Cup medal of the season, finishing third after a freak accident saw his opponent Ben Cavet of France in the bronze medal duel crossing over into Graham’s side of the course, with Graham landing on the French skier whilst completing the top air jump. Graham finished the season well at the World Cup final in Almaty, Kazakstan, with his second medal performance of the season and 25th podium of his career after finishing in third place int he single moguls. Graham scored 80.81 points in the super final to finish behind event winner Mikael Kingsbury of Canada on 84.49, with Ikuma Horishima of Japan in second place with 83.48 points. “This course here suits me a lot, and I was able to put my high degree of difficulty down with a back double full and cork 1080 run together, which I haven’t done too often, and moving forward into the next Olympic campaign that’s the goal for me and compete with the likes of Ikuma and Mikael“, said the 29-year-old from the NSW Central Coast. Q & AProudest moment: Representing Australia at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
I began my sport ... when I was 7 years old in the Perisher Winter Sports Club. When I am not training or competing I am: Making the most of living on the Central Coast of NSW. I try to get in the water as much as possible whether is it surfing, out on the boat water skiing and wakeboarding or going for a sail. I enjoy my sport because it is fast paced, intense and is extremely hard to do. Education: I am currently studying a combined degree in Civil Engineering and Business at the University of Newcastle. Favourite international competition: The Deer Valley World Cup, unless it an Olympic year and then that takes the cake. Favourite Food: A big juicy steak. Favourite Music: It really depends on the mood and what I have coming up. Favourite other sport to watch or play I grew up as a sailor, so that is probably my second sport behind skiing. I love following the America’s Cup. Favourite sporting team The Sydney Roosters. My hero is any sporting person who has shown greatness in their chosen sport. Sponsors: IFM Investors, Oakley, IDone Ski’s, Dalbello Ski Boots, Marker Protection, XTM. Childhood Ambition: To win an Olympic Gold Medal! LINKSOWIA News Search:Additional Links:
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