Matt Graham is an Australian freestyle skier and silver medallist that competes in the mogul skiing discipline. He was selected for his third Australian Olympic team for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.
A member of the Perisher Winter Sports Club from the age of six, Matt made his international debut at 15 years-old, and has gone from strength to strength, He made his Olympic debut at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics following some fantastic form throughout the 2013 season. His first Olympics resulted in a final where he took seventh place.
Matt went on to secure his first silver medal at a World Cup in the 2014-15 season, finishing the year with a fifth-place ranking in the overall Mogul Skiing World Cup standings. In 2016, he went one better to earn a gold medal at the same competition round in Deer Valley, USA, and ultimately end the season in ranked second in the world.
The 2017/17 season saw continued success for the Olympian, earning an early silver in Ruka, Finland followed by a gold in Calgary. Also standing on the podium was fellow NSW Institute of Sport teammate Britt Cox, creating a historic double win for Australia in both the ladies and men’s events.
Matt headed into his second Olympic Games campaign as the third-ranked mogul skier in the world, following four podiums from seven world cup starts that season.
In PyeongChang, Matt became Australia’s 11th Winter Olympic medallist and second-only mogul skiing medallist when he won a silver medal.
The 2019/20 season proved another successful season off the back of his Olympic silver, with a world championship silver and world cup bronze medal added to his accolades.
In 2019/2020, Matt finished in the top six super finals in six out of eight events and finished with a fourth-place ranking on the standings after competing in the final event of the season in Tazawako, Japan.
Despite some disruptions to the season in 2020/21, the 27-year-old had a spectacular start becoming the first Australian male mogul skier since Dale Begg-Smith to win the World Cup Crystal Globe as the number one ranked skier on the World Cup standings. Along the way collecting three world cup medals (one gold, one silver, and one bronze), as well as a silver at the World Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
A serious collarbone injury sustained during a training run in Idre Fjall, Sweden late 2021 saw Matt rushed to surgery before returning home to start rehabilitation. One month later the Olympic moguls silver medallist defied the odds and resumed practice just weeks away from the start of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
At the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, Matt was unable to repeat the success he enjoyed in 2018 to advance to the finals. Rather, he finished his third Olympic campaign in 19th overall but inspired the nation with his resilience and determination post injury.