Winter Olympics 2018: Matt Graham takes first medal for Australia

Matt Graham was preparing a wild party in Bokwang after winning the first PyeongChang Olympic medal for Australia.

Matt Graham with Mikael Kingsbury of Canada on the podium. Picture: AAP.

Australian skier Matt Graham was preparing a wild party long into the night in Bokwang after winning the first PyeongChang Olympic medal for Australia, a silver in the moguls. And after a few beers and putting his tired legs up he intends to return to his Narara, Central Coast home to enjoy some sunshine and compete in his other sport — sailing.

Graham couldn’t contain his excitement and joy as he hugged Team Graham — his girlfriend Jess, his three mates from school, his parents and his grandparents — all jumping up and down in celebration and to keep warm in the minus 12 degree temperatures at the bottom of the moguls course after his Olympic silver medal was confirmed.

Matt Graham has won Australia's first medal at #Pyeongchang2018, taking silver in the men's moguls! 🇦🇺 @7Olympics pic.twitter.com/2reGCXmSaB

— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) February 12, 2018

Graham had started third in the super final of six skiers and was superb down the 250m course, keeping his skis together and nailing his two jumps, a back full and then a cork 1080 to record an impressive score of 82.57.

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He had chosen to ski the outside run believing it would not be as chopped up as the more popular middle line which was the undoing of some of his competitors.

”I was just focused on the first few turns to get a good start and a good rhythm and hang loose,’’ he said.

”Landing that bottom jump, there was quite a bit of snow there so it was pretty punchy, I thought ‘just stick it’ and I knew I had done enough to at least win a medal. It came down to what Mikael did.’’

Matt Graham competes in the men's moguls final. Picture: AFP.

Mikael Kingsbury, the Canadian superstar of the sport who has collected every accolade in the sport except an Olympic gold, having won the silver at Sochi four years ago, knew he had to pull out a flawless performance and he nailed his run, scoring a staggering 86.63. The two then had to wait for the highest scoring qualifier Daichi Hara to finish his run, which was strong, but not quite enough to topple Graham from the silver.

Twenty-three-year-old Graham had saved his best run for the final when it counted, but he revealed after the competition that his legs had felt stiff during his first training before qualifying and he “took a bit of a breather’’ in a. warm room and worked on his bottom air jump.

Graham first clicked into skis at the age of three when his parents Debbie and Steve would take the family on ski holidays in Jindabyne to visit his Nan and Pop Marilyn and Peter Robson and his cousins.

Then when he was aged ten he was sailing, and became a four time national champion in the Sabot class.

“Competitiveness is bred into me,’’ Graham said, revealing his father was his sailing coach.

“He didn’t like it when I lost and neither did I.

“At the time my dream originally was go to Summer Olympics in sailing and come away and then go to Winter Olympics in skiing but at 12 I knew it was too bloody hard (to do both).’’

Graham decided to concentrate on skiing because his brother Dave had faced the same decision.

“He was a big influence, he chose skiing and as the younger brother I wanted to be like my older brother: he pushed me at an early age.

“I chased him around the mountain, I wanted to do the tricks he did and be as fast as him, his influence has given me a chance to be contender on the world stage.’’

But Graham revealed that he intended to compete in some sailing competitions in the next few weeks to relax.

“The course was brutal, my legs while not sore, are tired because I have done a lot of skiing this week,’’ he said. Coached by Steve Desovich, Graham has also taken counsel from Australian Olympic champion Dale Begg-Smith.

Graham prepared for his race by training on the same line each time so he would know it “like the back of my hand.’’

‘’I always wanted to be able to ski across the line a happy dude,’’ he said, smiling with great satisfaction that he did indeed do that.