Twenty-year-old Matt Graham finished his moguls World Cup season on a high when he secured his third medal for 2014/15 in Tazawako, Japan.
The event was won by Canadian Mikael Kingsbury, ahead of compatriot Philippe Marquis in second.
After a slow start to the season, Graham hit his straps in January by taking the silver medal in Deer Valley, USA, and followed up with another second place in Val St Come, Canada, three weeks ago.
The bronze medal marks Graham’s first podium finish in duals, capping off a highly successful season for Graham and the OWIA/NSWIS moguls program.
Graham and his teammate Britt Cox have made it to the podium on five occasions this season.
Graham’s result yesterday has cemented his world ranking of four and despite the fact that he will not compete in the last stop on the World Cup tour in Megeve, France, on March 15, it seems likely that he will retain this ranking at season end.
Coming off a 10th place in the singles event in Tazawako on Saturday, Graham was determined to wrap up his season with a strong performance in the duals, which is exactly what he did right from the start of competition.
He was given a bye in the round of 64, due to his strong world ranking, then ended Russian Maksim Mikhaylov’s day in the round of 32, accounted for Frenchman Benjamin Cavet in the quarters but then came up against Kingsbury, the world number one, in a semi-final.
Graham, who is normally a strong starter in dual moguls, was slow out of the gate in the semi and with the high importance placed on speed in duals, was always playing catch up, enabling the Canadian to win through to the final.
This placed the Australian in the consolation final against Pouliot-Cavanagh to battle it out for the third medal. Graham was the dominant skier throughout the consolation final.
Graham labelled the season as a “breakthrough” in terms of fulfilling his career ambitions.
“Overall this season has been a bit of a breakthrough year for me,” Graham said.
“It has really motivated me to work hard this off season and come back stronger again next year.
“Right now I am really enjoying mogul skiing, I feel like I am 12 years old again, just going out having fun each day training and I think that has made a big difference this year.”
The architect of the moguls skiing program’s success, head coach Steve Desovich paid tribute to Graham and Cox, praising their work ethic in the off season and throughout the northern hemisphere winter as well as acknowledging the valuable input from everyone at NSWIS, strength and conditioning coach John Marsden and moguls skiing aerial coach Jerry Grossi.
“I’d say this has been a very good season,” Desovich said.
“I thought he may be ready for some special results but until it happens, you can’t say it’s expected.
“But the process of moving forward never stops. In this game if you are not getting better, you’re getting worse.
“With Britt’s podium at the World Championships and in duals in Deer Valley, we are very pleased with her also.
“If we look at the program as a whole, those two kids have done great and we are exceptionally pleased.”
Image: Matt Graham on the podium in Japan © FIS
The event was won by Canadian Mikael Kingsbury, ahead of compatriot Philippe Marquis in second.
After a slow start to the season, Graham hit his straps in January by taking the silver medal in Deer Valley, USA, and followed up with another second place in Val St Come, Canada, three weeks ago.
The bronze medal marks Graham’s first podium finish in duals, capping off a highly successful season for Graham and the OWIA/NSWIS moguls program.
Graham and his teammate Britt Cox have made it to the podium on five occasions this season.
Graham’s result yesterday has cemented his world ranking of four and despite the fact that he will not compete in the last stop on the World Cup tour in Megeve, France, on March 15, it seems likely that he will retain this ranking at season end.
Coming off a 10th place in the singles event in Tazawako on Saturday, Graham was determined to wrap up his season with a strong performance in the duals, which is exactly what he did right from the start of competition.
He was given a bye in the round of 64, due to his strong world ranking, then ended Russian Maksim Mikhaylov’s day in the round of 32, accounted for Frenchman Benjamin Cavet in the quarters but then came up against Kingsbury, the world number one, in a semi-final.
Graham, who is normally a strong starter in dual moguls, was slow out of the gate in the semi and with the high importance placed on speed in duals, was always playing catch up, enabling the Canadian to win through to the final.
This placed the Australian in the consolation final against Pouliot-Cavanagh to battle it out for the third medal. Graham was the dominant skier throughout the consolation final.
Graham labelled the season as a “breakthrough” in terms of fulfilling his career ambitions.
“Overall this season has been a bit of a breakthrough year for me,” Graham said.
“It has really motivated me to work hard this off season and come back stronger again next year.
“Right now I am really enjoying mogul skiing, I feel like I am 12 years old again, just going out having fun each day training and I think that has made a big difference this year.”
The architect of the moguls skiing program’s success, head coach Steve Desovich paid tribute to Graham and Cox, praising their work ethic in the off season and throughout the northern hemisphere winter as well as acknowledging the valuable input from everyone at NSWIS, strength and conditioning coach John Marsden and moguls skiing aerial coach Jerry Grossi.
“I’d say this has been a very good season,” Desovich said.
“I thought he may be ready for some special results but until it happens, you can’t say it’s expected.
“But the process of moving forward never stops. In this game if you are not getting better, you’re getting worse.
“With Britt’s podium at the World Championships and in duals in Deer Valley, we are very pleased with her also.
“If we look at the program as a whole, those two kids have done great and we are exceptionally pleased.”
Image: Matt Graham on the podium in Japan © FIS
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