MOGUL EMPIRE

TALK ABOUT BOSSING WHAT THE FRENCH CALL ‘LES BOSSES’ (BUMPS). LOOK WHO TOPPED THE PODIUM AT THE DEER VALLEY WORLD CUP MOGULS, JAKARA ANTHONY THE WOMEN’S AND MATT GRAHAM MEN’S. BOTH RACKED UP PLENTY MORE PODIUMS AND WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MEDALS TO BOOT, PROOF POSITIVE OF OUR ‘MOGUL EMPIRE’ OF TALENT. OWAIN PRICE CAUGHT UP WITH MATT FOR THE LATEST ON AN OUTSTANDING CAREER, THAT HE PLANS TO KICK ON TO THE MILAN WINTER OLYMPICS IN 2026.

We first did a feature interview with Matt Graham back in 2015, after he started stacking up podium finishes on the FIS Freestyle World Cup Mogul circuit.

Quite by chance though, we had featured him competing, while winning, in the ABOM classic at Buller back in 2011, with a full page shot from the 2010 when, as a 15 year old, he was beating all and sundry, young and old.

That’s pretty much half a lifetime skiing the incredibly technical and demanding moguls circuit at the top level. He burst onto mainstream Australia’s consciousness picking up silver at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Then while we were all in lockdown, he managed his career highlight to date, taking the Crystal Globe as overall World Champion for the 202021 season in Dual Moguls.

Our apologies for taking a while to bring this to you - back in 2021, I was skiing Perisher on Fridays, waiting for the opportunity to grab Matt between his flat-out training and coaching regime on the mogul course there. Chatting to young mogul skiers visiting from Falls Creek on a training camp, I got an idea how he his revered by the next gen of Aussie bumps skiers.

It’s a long way to the top if you want to ski bumps.. Matt Graham finally got to clasp the Crystal Globe as overall World Dual Moguls Champion in 2021 - Aussie XTM gloves providing the perfect grip for a globe, just saying.. For much of winter you can often check out Matt and our other mogul stars training while riding up the Ridge Chair on the Blue Cow side of Perisher.

But then lockdown shutdown the ACT, we couldn’t get back to Perisher again, and not long after Matt suffered the worst injury of his career in late 2021.

Despite his best efforts to rush back, that meant his 2022 Beijing Olympic challenge was never going to reach the heights he expects. Season 20222023 saw him back to full fitness, and skiing as well as ever.

The highlight of another - his 4th - World Cup win at Deer Valley in February was made even sweeter by sharing it with Jakara Anthony, taking gold in the Women’s event.

Aussies on top.

If you are wondering why Graham has not won a lot more World Cups, timing has been crucial. His career has completely overlapped with the G.O.A.T. of all-time G.O.A.T.s of mogul skiers, Canadian Mikhael Kingsbury. Imagine Federer, Nadal & Djokovic rolled into one athlete and you would get the tennis equivalent. The tennis G.O.A.T trio won13 consecutive Grand Slams from 2016-2020, and 64 of 78 to this year’s Australian Open. Kingsbury has won 78 of the past 118 World Cups, 6 out of the last 6 World Championship golds, and gone silver/ gold/silver at the past 3 Winter Olympics.

So anytime he can beat the G.O.A.T is extra special. He was back under the knife for collar bone surgery at the end of March ahead when Owain Price caught up with him for this interview.

Your entire career has been up against the G.O.A.T of all GOATs in mogul skiing - Mickael Kingsbury being the bumps equivalent of tennis’ Federer/Nadal & Djokovic combined in one.

When he missed a couple of events in 2021, you pounced and snatched the title. How good was it to finally claim a crystal globe as overall champion in 2021?

Yeah, it has always been tough competing alongside Mik my entire career. His track record is insane. Having said that though, I believe having him around and pushing the sport to another level has also pushed myself and many other top guys to levels that we didn’t think possible. To snag the crystal globe in 2021 was surreal. It was a tough season for the Australian team, we lived under tough covid restrictions and based ourselves in Ruka, Finland which is dark for about 20 hours a day and we trained in some of the coldest temperatures that I’ve experienced for two months straight. So, given those circumstances, to finish number 1 in the world was pretty special. I was then lucky enough to come home and spend two weeks in hotel quarantine to celebrate.. ha ha

Heading into the next Olympic season, you were looking good to at least repeat silver from Pyeongchang. Then disaster struck with the injury. You made it back, just, but obviously nowhere near your best. Watching on TV it reminded me of Russ Henshaw in Slopestyle four years before, coming out the gate with buggered knees. From the first feature then anyone who knew how well he normally skied knew he just wasn’t all there to give it his best shot. Still placed 5th but just sad the wider public who only tune in come Olympics time didn’t see him at his best. In your case Walter Wallberg, who you have beaten several times, got up to pip Kingsbury for gold. For us armchair viewers, it sucked that wasn’t you. How did you feel?

Beijing was a brutal experience for me. To come off an Olympic silver medal, and to then go into the Olympic season in close to career best form and then have everything go the way it did was hard to deal with. I was devastated when I got injured 6-weeks out from the games, but I was able to put that aside and stay positive throughout my rehab period. I always believed that I could come back in time and push for a medal at Beijing, and I still believe that it was a possibility.

That is potentially why the outcome was so hard on me. I felt as though I could make the Cinderella story a reality, but instead I failed at what I set out to achieve, and that is what hurt. At the time and the following months, I was embarrassed about what had happened and questioned whether my time in the sport was over.

But here we are, 2023 season wrapped and some of your best ever performances under the belt, including another win at Deer Valley pushing the GOAT into 2nd place in the process. Do you feel like you’re skiing as well, or better, than ever?

The past 14 months or so have been a rollercoaster for me. After my Beijing Olympic experience, I was down in the dumps. Shortly after returning home from Beijing, I found out that my collarbone didn’t heal, which meant I had to undergo another surgery and redo my whole rehab process.

It basically put me back on the couch until our Aussie winter. During that period, I had a lot of time to think about things and how I could do things differently. So, I spent the domestic season making some changes to my equipment set up which I believe just opened another door for me to keep progressing, and off the back of that I just felt like I was enjoying the sport so much more. I was able to feel and see the changes in my skiing. So, to answer the question, yes, I do feel like I am skiing as good as I ever have, and I believe I have more to give.

No one has won more of Australia’s premier moguls event at Mt Buller than Matt Graham, with 7 titles to his credit since his first in 2009, as a 14 year old! Right: In 2010 © Andrew Railton. Left: in 2022 © Tony Harrington / Mt Buller

How long can you keep it going, is the fire in the belly - and whatever-comes-next / the real world - going to last 3 years for another Olympics, which to go one better at is pretty much the only thing you haven’t achieved already?

The sporting world is changing in the modern world. The all-time great athletes are hanging around so much longer these days than in the past, so I think I am looking at that as evidence that I can keep pushing and keep improving which is pretty cool. In my head, I am pretty certain that the next Olympics in Milan will be the last dance for me so I am currently working on preparing myself for that change to move onto life after sport. Last year I graduated from the University of Newcastle with a double degree in Civil Engineering and Business so between now and when I hang up my boots, I will try get some practical work experience in my off-seasons.

The World Cup tour hits some obscure places, but the same venues every year. Deer Valley is the only mainstream one most Aussies would recognise. But Almaty Kazakhstan, Ruka Finland, Idre Fjall Sweden all look awesome.. You could pretty much run tours there you have been so often. Should us punters check them out, got any tips on where/why we should visit - apart from watching Aussie team compete?

Ha ha, yes we do go to some uncommon places to go and compete and ski which is pretty cool. As I get older I think I am appreciating the fact that we do go to places that otherwise I would never go to, but my favourite spot would have to be Deer Valley. Speaking of obscure places to ski, it is a dream of mine to bring the World Cup tour down under and compete on home soil at Perisher. That would be unreal!

Locally you are Mr ABOM. By chance, looking for something else, I found a full page action pic of you at the 2010 event we ran back in 2011. There’s an inset pic of Jakara on the podium for u14s too, but you were already winning ABOM in 2009, aged 14. Last year was title #7, two ahead of Nick Cleaver on the all-time list. How important do you think it is - seems to be the biggest event we get locally by far, attracting some great talent?

Competing on home soil is always special. Each year I look forward to competing in front of my family at my home resort in Perisher for the National Championships, and then following it up at the ABOM Mogul Challenge a few days later in Mount Buller is always a lot of fun! I remember when I was a kid, I looked up to the guys and girls winning the Nationals and the ABOM which inspired me a lot. Watching our local talent take on some of the best international skiers in the world was cool to me, so hopefully, I can pass that on to the next generation.

Staying even more local, COVID lockdown in Canberra stopped us from catching up with you at Perisher in 2021. But riding the lifts with some kids doing a moguls program, we chatted and they were in awe of you. They said how great you were coaching and helpful and an example. While training and focusing on your own improvement, how big of a part of your life is the mentoring/role model gig?

That’s always cool to hear that. It can be pretty intimidating as a youngster to go up to the older national team skiers. I remember being in their position, having a thousand questions but feeling too scared to go and ask. I always try to stay in contact with the club skiers out on the hill so hopefully they can feel comfortable enough to ask me any questions they have.

Finally, last time we mentioned how many mogul skiers went on to become legend big mountain skiers too. You said then (2015) big mountain skiing might be a thing for you in future. Is it still so or are other future options taking over there?

We will have to wait and see ha ha. It is something I would love to do at some stage. To what level, will be determined with where my head is at though. The big mountain scene is bloody gnarly and dangerous and I currently know virtually nothing about so I would need to learn a lot before I start to take on the backcountry.

Awesome Matt thanks, good luck with the collar bone recovery, looking forward to see you fit and firing in Milan, cheers.

Want to get serious about bumps yourself? Check out snow.org.au/get-involved/