Matt Graham takes mogul skiing bronze in Deer Valley

Courtesy www.owia.org

Australian mogul skier Matt Graham has claimed the bronze medal in the FIS Word Cup event today in Deer Valley, USA, his second medal of the season.

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.

“We have duals tomorrow which will be fun and exciting. I placed first in duals in Sweden earlier this season, so I will be looking to use that momentum going into tomorrow's event.”

For Graham, the result marks the 17th major medal of his career (3 gold, 6 silver, 8 bronze).

After four events, Graham sits in fourth place on the World Cup standings, with teammate Brodie Summers in fifth after finishing in eight place in todays event.

In the women’s event, 2019 World Championship silver medallist Jakara Anthony had her highest placing of the season so far, finishing in sixth place.

The mogul athletes will be back in action tomorrow in Deer Valley competing in the dual mogul World Cup.