Australian mogul skier Matt Graham has claimed a double medal haul with bronze medal in the FIS Word Cup moguls and dual moguls at Deer Valley Resort in Utah.
In the single moguls, the 26-year-old from the NSW Central Coast stepped up his run in the super final to jump the highest degree of difficulty of his World Cup career, with a back double full (double twisting back somersault) on the top jump and d-spin 1080 (triple twisting off axis somersault) on the bottom air to score 84.44 points.
Graham made great progress on his jumping skills in October at the new world class Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre Water Ramp facility located at Brisbane’s Sleeman Sports Centre.
Taking the win was 2018 Olympic gold medallist Mikael Kingsbury of Canada on 88.10 points, with Frenchman Benjamin Cavet in second place with a score of 86.25.
“Very happy to come away with a podium today” said the 2018 Olympic silver medallist.
“It’s been a long wait between competitions and our team have been isolated in the North of Finland at Ruka for the past two months where it’s dark twenty hours of the day. However, we have had great training in Ruka so I felt very prepared for this World Cup and was hungry to get back in the start gate.
“The super final was hotly contested with all the best guys in the mix. “I performed a back-double-full off the top jump. This is something I worked a lot on over the Christmas and New Year break in Finland and it is the first time I have competed this level of DD (degree of difficulty) in a World Cup. I am happy with the way it turned out, but I still have plenty of room for improvement which is nice.
Matt Graham made it three consecutive podiums with back to back medals claiming the silver medal in the dual moguls.
Today’s success moves Graham into first place on the World Cup standings, the first time an Australian male mogul skier has had the yellow leader bib since the legendary Dale Begg-Smith in 2010.
The 26-year-old from the NSW Central Coast moved through the earlier rounds of the event with ease to advance to the dual for first place against 2018 Olympic Champion Mikael Kingsbury of Canada.
In a very close head to head race in snowy conditions, Graham just fell short with Kingsbury taking the win with a score of 20 to 15 points. Rounding out the podium in third place was Benjamin Cavet of France.
“Feels great to get the silver here in Deer Valley after yesterday’s bronze”, Graham said after collecting his third medal of the season.
“It was a tough day today, I think all the boys where a bit sore after yesterday’s event, so we really had to dig deep.
“It’s a great feeling to go into the last World Cup event of the season wearing the yellow leaders bib.”
For Graham, the result marks the 18th major medal of his career (3 gold, 7 silver, 8 bronze).
With one World Cup competition left in the schedule, a dual mogul event in Kazakstan on March 14, Graham sits in first place on the standings with 289 points.
Behind Graham in the standings is Frenchman Benjamin Cavet on 271 points, Ludavig Fjallstrom of Sweden with 258 points and Ikuma Horishima of Japan on 246 points.
Graham’s teammate Brodie Summers is in fifth on the standings after finishing eighth in today’s event.
Photos: Steven Earl/U.S. Ski Team
