Central Coast mogul skier Matt Graham has taken a gold medal at a World Cup event in Deer Valley, USA.
It is his first victory in the single moguls discipline since Calgary in 2017.
Deer Valley is blue ribbon and World Cup event for mogul and aerial skiing.
The Utah event is in its 25th edition and is held annually at the 2002 Olympic venue, the “Champion Run”.
Graham qualified for the finals in third place, and then stepped it up to score 81.27 in the first round of the finals and advance to the super-final medal round in first place.
In the super-final, he put down an incredible run to score a huge 85.35 on the steep and difficult course, finishing ahead of Mikael Kingsbury of Canada with 83.65 points and Frenchman Benjamin Cavet with 81.82 in third.
Fellow Aussie Jakara Anthony also scored a gold on the day, the second time an Australian pair has achieved victory on the same day, after Graham and Britt Cox both scored gold on the same day in Calgary in 2017.
“It’s a surreal feeling,” silver Olympic medalist Graham, 28, said.
“I went back-to-back with Britt Cox in 2017 in Calgary, and now to get the back-to-back wins with Jakara is super special.
“It was a tough long day; the course was eating people all day – I was just happy to find my line and rip it each run.
“I was having so much fun at Deer Valley.
“I love this event, had my first ever win here in 2016, so it’s good to be back up here and stand on top of the podium.”
The victory is the fourth of Graham’s career and his 20th World Cup podium.
It sees Graham move into third on the standings with 276 points, with Canadian Kingsbury in the lead with 440.
Source:
Media release, Feb 4
Olympic Winter Institute of Australia