Matt Graham during Mogul qualifications February 9, PyeongChang. Photo: Getty Images Australia’s male mogul skiers had their first qualification runs at Phoenix Park on Friday afternoon, with Sochi Olympian Matt Graham progressing through to Final 1.
The two-time Olympian, who finished in 9th place with a score of 77.28, said that “anything can happen in the final”.
“I came off a pretty good training day yesterday, I was quite happy with how I was skiing and I just came out and wanted to replicate what I was doing,” he said.
“I definitely feel a lot more confident this time around than four years ago, I’m older and wiser and know the competition a lot more now.”
Placing in the top ten, Graham was the only one of the Australian contingent to qualify for Final 1 on Friday.
Australia’s three other male mogul skiers will now need to place in the top ten of qualification 2, which will feature the 20 skiers that have not already progressed, to join Graham in Final 1.
Making his Olympic debut, Rohan Chapman-Davies was third out of the gate and finished in 17th place with a score of 73.96.
“It’s pretty exciting to be out so early in my Olympic debut, the course is unbelievable,” he said.
“I’m happy with my run, I hit all the elements I wanted to hit. I had a little bubble out of the top air but managed to recover from it very quickly.
The 26-year-old said that it was “unbelievable” to now be an Olympian.
“When I initially got the call from my coach telling me I was in the squad I found it hard to believe,” he said.
“To push out of the gate today and cross the line, it was fantastic.”
Fellow Olympic debutant James Matheson, who finished 23rd with a score of 72.27, said that he was “over the moon” to be competing in PyeongChang and that he’ll head into his second qualification run “all guns blazing”.
“The start of the run I was just trying to focus on my breathing because obviously there’s some nerves in your first Olympic Games but I’m just focussing on the simple things and the things we’ve been doing for years and years now,” he said.
“Game plan going on from here is to learn from today, there’s definitely some good and bad things that I can take forward.”
Sochi Olympian Brodie Summers did not start but is eligible to compete in the second qualification runs on Sunday.
The Men’s finals will be held on Day 3 (February 10-11). See more of the freestyle skiing Team HERE.
David Barden
olympics.com.au
The two-time Olympian, who finished in 9th place with a score of 77.28, said that “anything can happen in the final”.
“I came off a pretty good training day yesterday, I was quite happy with how I was skiing and I just came out and wanted to replicate what I was doing,” he said.
“I definitely feel a lot more confident this time around than four years ago, I’m older and wiser and know the competition a lot more now.”
Placing in the top ten, Graham was the only one of the Australian contingent to qualify for Final 1 on Friday.
Australia’s three other male mogul skiers will now need to place in the top ten of qualification 2, which will feature the 20 skiers that have not already progressed, to join Graham in Final 1.
Making his Olympic debut, Rohan Chapman-Davies was third out of the gate and finished in 17th place with a score of 73.96.
“It’s pretty exciting to be out so early in my Olympic debut, the course is unbelievable,” he said.
“I’m happy with my run, I hit all the elements I wanted to hit. I had a little bubble out of the top air but managed to recover from it very quickly.
The 26-year-old said that it was “unbelievable” to now be an Olympian.
“When I initially got the call from my coach telling me I was in the squad I found it hard to believe,” he said.
“To push out of the gate today and cross the line, it was fantastic.”
Fellow Olympic debutant James Matheson, who finished 23rd with a score of 72.27, said that he was “over the moon” to be competing in PyeongChang and that he’ll head into his second qualification run “all guns blazing”.
“The start of the run I was just trying to focus on my breathing because obviously there’s some nerves in your first Olympic Games but I’m just focussing on the simple things and the things we’ve been doing for years and years now,” he said.
“Game plan going on from here is to learn from today, there’s definitely some good and bad things that I can take forward.”
Sochi Olympian Brodie Summers did not start but is eligible to compete in the second qualification runs on Sunday.
The Men’s finals will be held on Day 3 (February 10-11). See more of the freestyle skiing Team HERE.
David Barden
olympics.com.au
RSS Feed
