NSWIS skier Matt Graham has claimed Australia’s first medal at the 2025 FIS Freestyle and Snowboard World Championships, winning bronze in a courageous performance in the iconic Swiss resort St Moritz, where three of the top four men suffered heavy crashes in a wild semi-final round of championship mogul skiing.
Graham now has five World Championship medals in his remarkable career, the most of any Australian winter sports athlete, surpassing snowboarder Scotty James, who will be aiming to join Graham on five podiums next week in St Moritz.
The opening event at the World Championships was the single moguls, where Graham showed he was in strong form advancing through to the top-eight super final. Graham was in contention for a medal, but a mistake just before the finish line saw the 2018 Olympic medallist finish in fifth place. Joining Graham in finals was NSWIS teammate Cooper Woods in ninth, missing the super-final by one place, George Murphy 22nd and Jackson Harvey was 28th.
In her World Championship debut, Charlotte Wilson qualified for the eight-woman medal round super final and finished seventh in her World Championship debut. Also on debut and just missing the final cut for top 20 was Emma Bosco.
In the dual moguls competition, Graham advanced through the early rounds with a 19-16 victory over Sweden's Robin Olgaard in the round of 16, followed by a 23-12 win against Mateo Jeannesson of Great Britain in the quarter-finals.
In the first semi-final, Graham went head-to-head with legendary Canadian skier Mikael Kingsbury in a thrilling duel. Both athletes pushed themselves to the absolute limit, but just before the bottom jump, Graham lost a ski at high speed, causing him to cartwheel down the course. After this setback, Kingsbury advanced to the big final and Graham to the small final and the opportunity for the bronze medal.
The second semi-final saw Japan's Ikuma Hiroshima and Sweden's Filip Gravenfors both crash heavily across the finish line, Hiroshima was the skier to advance to the gold medal match up but was injured and unable to compete further.
In the small final, Graham's opponent Gravenfors pushed out of the start gate but could not continue due his semi-final crash, Graham completed the course in a solo run to claim the bronze medal, while Hiroshima's withdrawal from the final race off duel gave Kingsbury the gold medal.
“It was probably one of the hardest earned podiums of my career” said the 30-year-old Graham from the NSW Central Coast.
“After a big crash last week in Livigno and not knowing if I would be able to compete, to keep skiing the way I did today and get down the run, then having a big crash in the semi-final against Mikael rattled everything a little bit. Fortunately, I was able to ski to the bronze medal.”
“It’s a good way to cap off the season, it’s been long, lots of ups and downs, my third dual podium for the year is unreal, and also another “Dad Podium”, this time at the World Championships is pretty special with Ikuma and Mikael. I hope both Ikuma and Filip are ok from their crashes.”
“The course was challenging, it was icy at the start of the day, and consequently the top air landing and first five turns got trashed. On paper the course wasn’t that tricky but there were a few little technical elements to it.”
“Heading into the small-final I didn’t know what state Filip was in. He is a crazy duals skier, I was in a lot of pain myself and just wanted to get down the run and be in one piece, so I was just willing to ski my run and whatever happened, happened. I didn’t realise he was inured or sore, it wasn’t until I landed the top jump, and I couldn’t hear him or sense him that I knew I was in the clear, but I didn’t realise he pushed out and slipped his way down the course.”
“Our team is really close, they are my second family, also having my mum and dad here was special, it was a little bittersweet given the circumstances, and I was in shock to be honest when I crossed the line, so I broke down a little and got a bit emotional.”
Also competing for Australia in the final event of the moguls skiing competition season were Cooper Woods in eighth place, Charlotte Wilson 15th, Emma Bosco 17th, Jackson Harvey 18th and George Murphy 23rd.
Graham now has five World Championship medals in his remarkable career, the most of any Australian winter sports athlete, surpassing snowboarder Scotty James, who will be aiming to join Graham on five podiums next week in St Moritz.
The opening event at the World Championships was the single moguls, where Graham showed he was in strong form advancing through to the top-eight super final. Graham was in contention for a medal, but a mistake just before the finish line saw the 2018 Olympic medallist finish in fifth place. Joining Graham in finals was NSWIS teammate Cooper Woods in ninth, missing the super-final by one place, George Murphy 22nd and Jackson Harvey was 28th.
In her World Championship debut, Charlotte Wilson qualified for the eight-woman medal round super final and finished seventh in her World Championship debut. Also on debut and just missing the final cut for top 20 was Emma Bosco.
In the dual moguls competition, Graham advanced through the early rounds with a 19-16 victory over Sweden's Robin Olgaard in the round of 16, followed by a 23-12 win against Mateo Jeannesson of Great Britain in the quarter-finals.
In the first semi-final, Graham went head-to-head with legendary Canadian skier Mikael Kingsbury in a thrilling duel. Both athletes pushed themselves to the absolute limit, but just before the bottom jump, Graham lost a ski at high speed, causing him to cartwheel down the course. After this setback, Kingsbury advanced to the big final and Graham to the small final and the opportunity for the bronze medal.
The second semi-final saw Japan's Ikuma Hiroshima and Sweden's Filip Gravenfors both crash heavily across the finish line, Hiroshima was the skier to advance to the gold medal match up but was injured and unable to compete further.
In the small final, Graham's opponent Gravenfors pushed out of the start gate but could not continue due his semi-final crash, Graham completed the course in a solo run to claim the bronze medal, while Hiroshima's withdrawal from the final race off duel gave Kingsbury the gold medal.
“It was probably one of the hardest earned podiums of my career” said the 30-year-old Graham from the NSW Central Coast.
“After a big crash last week in Livigno and not knowing if I would be able to compete, to keep skiing the way I did today and get down the run, then having a big crash in the semi-final against Mikael rattled everything a little bit. Fortunately, I was able to ski to the bronze medal.”
“It’s a good way to cap off the season, it’s been long, lots of ups and downs, my third dual podium for the year is unreal, and also another “Dad Podium”, this time at the World Championships is pretty special with Ikuma and Mikael. I hope both Ikuma and Filip are ok from their crashes.”
“The course was challenging, it was icy at the start of the day, and consequently the top air landing and first five turns got trashed. On paper the course wasn’t that tricky but there were a few little technical elements to it.”
“Heading into the small-final I didn’t know what state Filip was in. He is a crazy duals skier, I was in a lot of pain myself and just wanted to get down the run and be in one piece, so I was just willing to ski my run and whatever happened, happened. I didn’t realise he was inured or sore, it wasn’t until I landed the top jump, and I couldn’t hear him or sense him that I knew I was in the clear, but I didn’t realise he pushed out and slipped his way down the course.”
“Our team is really close, they are my second family, also having my mum and dad here was special, it was a little bittersweet given the circumstances, and I was in shock to be honest when I crossed the line, so I broke down a little and got a bit emotional.”
Also competing for Australia in the final event of the moguls skiing competition season were Cooper Woods in eighth place, Charlotte Wilson 15th, Emma Bosco 17th, Jackson Harvey 18th and George Murphy 23rd.
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