“The fact that the course was challenging probably worked in my favour. I knew that I had to ski, I couldn’t sort of let the other person take over my focus. I just had to focus on the moguls in front of me and just adapt on the fly,” Graham said.
“I actually lost my pole three moguls before the bottom jump against Ikuma in the semi-finals. I was going over the bottom air trying to catch my pole, throw a backflip and landed on my feet, so that was pretty wild.
“And then once I lost that, I knew that it was up to me to make sure we got the dad podium (all medallists are fathers).”
Dual moguls medallists Ikuma Horishima, Mikael Kingsbury and Matt Graham with their partners and kids.Credit: AP
Sunday also marks the 20th anniversary of when Australian Dale Begg-Smith won his moguls gold medal at the 2006 Olympics in Turin.
Wednesday’s gold medallist Woods was knocked out in his second round match-up against Charlie Mickel of the United States after he failed to make the second jump, while countryman Jackson Harvey and George Murphy were also eliminated before the semi-finals.
Woods said the blue course – the one he missed his final jump on – was harder to ride, but it was just the nature of the sport.
“It’s just the way the course is built and the number of people that have skied in each line. There’s [been] a lot of people on the inside blue, which has probably been a bit of a mistake in my judgement,” Woods said.
“The outside left [blue], where I skied in the singles is quite a nice line, there’s a little less people in there. When you hop in a line that’s a little more chewed up and a bit more skied, it’s much harder to ski.
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“It’s just how it goes. There are other factors like the way the sun cooks the course and stuff like that, but it’s usually a numbers thing – how many people are in each line.”
Graham’s wife Jess said she was too nervous to watch, but elated he could finish with a medal.
“It’s too nerve wracking for me, but I’m just so happy for him and so glad. Just being here is amazing,” she said.
“So happy for him, he absolutely deserves it. He works so hard and just to have her here [their daughter] is so cool.
“I looked up at the last minute, but I can’t watch him come down the course, it’s too stressful.”
The Winter Olympic Games is broadcast on the 9Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.
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