Australian mogul skier Matt Graham collected his second World Cup medal of the season in Val St Come, Canada.
The 20-year-old Olympic Winter Institute of Australia/NSWIS skier added a silver medal to another second place achieved in the United States about a month ago.
Graham’s medal enhances a highly successful season for Australian winter sport athletes who have captured nine medals in World Cups and World Championships.
Canadian Mikael Kingsbury won the event ahead of Russian Alexandr Smyshlyaev in the bronze medal position.
Graham said he thought the quality of his performance today was even stronger than the silver medal in the United States a month ago due to better consistency across the entire day.
“In Deer Valley I was a little shaky in the earlier rounds and then pulled it all together for the super final whereas here I was more consistent across the board,” Graham said.
He believes that “consistency” holds the key to his continued climb up the rankings towards achieving the best results he is capable of.
And it is not just consistency within each event that is critical. It is compiling consistency throughout an entire season that he is also striving for.
“This year has been a little up and down,” he admitted. “Coming here I was pretty determined to get a good result and put down a good performance. That has been the focus all week.
“I have been putting down good runs in training and I wanted to make sure I transferred that into competition performances.
“The two days of training set me up really well for today. Today I felt really confident. I thought I was skiing really well.”
Apart from consistency Graham, who was seventh in last year’s Olympic Winter Games in Russia, also sees a need to further increase the level of difficulty with his aerial acrobatics.
“The biggest difference between now and 12 months ago is that Matt has upped the degree of difficulty with his jumps,” Coach Steve Desovich said.
“He now has an air package which is competitive with the upper field. Of course it is ongoing and there are a lot of skills which are incomplete still.
“We are in continuous discussion with his off season. As excited as we are about his performance he can get a lot better.
“With jumps for instance, there are some specific things he needs to work on that require a lot of water ramp time.
“We are aiming for enough ramp training to bring his skills up to that level, which is comparable with the top guys.”
After the podium finish in Canada, Graham moved to fourth place in the World Cup rankings, and is within sight of a top three ranking by the end of the season.
IMAGE: Matt Graham celebrates after finishing second © Ashley Merkur
The 20-year-old Olympic Winter Institute of Australia/NSWIS skier added a silver medal to another second place achieved in the United States about a month ago.
Graham’s medal enhances a highly successful season for Australian winter sport athletes who have captured nine medals in World Cups and World Championships.
Canadian Mikael Kingsbury won the event ahead of Russian Alexandr Smyshlyaev in the bronze medal position.
Graham said he thought the quality of his performance today was even stronger than the silver medal in the United States a month ago due to better consistency across the entire day.
“In Deer Valley I was a little shaky in the earlier rounds and then pulled it all together for the super final whereas here I was more consistent across the board,” Graham said.
He believes that “consistency” holds the key to his continued climb up the rankings towards achieving the best results he is capable of.
And it is not just consistency within each event that is critical. It is compiling consistency throughout an entire season that he is also striving for.
“This year has been a little up and down,” he admitted. “Coming here I was pretty determined to get a good result and put down a good performance. That has been the focus all week.
“I have been putting down good runs in training and I wanted to make sure I transferred that into competition performances.
“The two days of training set me up really well for today. Today I felt really confident. I thought I was skiing really well.”
Apart from consistency Graham, who was seventh in last year’s Olympic Winter Games in Russia, also sees a need to further increase the level of difficulty with his aerial acrobatics.
“The biggest difference between now and 12 months ago is that Matt has upped the degree of difficulty with his jumps,” Coach Steve Desovich said.
“He now has an air package which is competitive with the upper field. Of course it is ongoing and there are a lot of skills which are incomplete still.
“We are in continuous discussion with his off season. As excited as we are about his performance he can get a lot better.
“With jumps for instance, there are some specific things he needs to work on that require a lot of water ramp time.
“We are aiming for enough ramp training to bring his skills up to that level, which is comparable with the top guys.”
After the podium finish in Canada, Graham moved to fourth place in the World Cup rankings, and is within sight of a top three ranking by the end of the season.
IMAGE: Matt Graham celebrates after finishing second © Ashley Merkur
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