Though the conditions were clearer than the women’s event held the day prior, there was much more carnage as contenders were picked off one-by-one, crashing and veering off course. Horishima spectacularly finished his round of 16 tie by crossing the line backwards and still won, because his rival Nick Page of the United States didn’t complete his run.
The red side of the slope was coping much better than the blue side, which took out the other three Australians in the mix: George Murphy, Jackson Harvey and singles gold medallist Cooper Woods, who described it as “definitely trickier” due to overuse.
“When you hop in a line that’s a little more chewed up and a bit more skied, it’s much harder to ski,” Woods said.
Dual moguls medallists Ikuma Horishima, Mikael Kingsbury and Matt Graham with their partners and kids.Credit: AP
Graham would have preferred the red, but of his five runs, he drew the blue four times.
“Either way … I was going to adapt,” he said.
“As long as you look up and look down the hill, that’s where you’re going to go and that’s where my vision was at today. I say sometimes dual moguls, you’ve got to be like Buzz Lightyear: it’s basically just falling with style, and you’re just trying to get to the bottom and make it look good.”
There was symmetry, too. Graham said he’d been in regular contact with Dale Begg-Smith, the Aussie skier who won gold on the same day back in 2006, at the Winter Olympics held in Turin, a few hours’ drive away.
“He offered me some advice as he always does. He’s still very passionate about the sport and always wants Australia to do well,” he said.
“He was super stoked for Coop the other day. He messaged me straight away and just said ‘What’s Coop’s number?’ I’m sure Cooper got a nice message from Dale. What he’s done for our sport goes very unnoticed, but it’s really cool, the legacy he’s left.”
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So … to infinity and beyond, then?
The expectation was that these would be Graham’s last Olympics, but he seems keen to have another crack so long as his body, mind and family allows. In one breath, he described it as a borderline miracle that he, at 31, and Kingsbury, at 33, are still here; in another, he said that anything is possible, including a possible fifth Olympics appearance at 35 in the French Alps in 2030.
“Anything’s possible. We’ve sort of shown that,” he said.
“Scotty James in the half pipe has shown that, he’s getting better and he’s the same age as me and he’s a fellow father. We’ve been led by the likes of your Roger Federers, your Novak Djokovics, your Kelly Slaters: all these guys who are just pushing themselves, and the way sports science and recovery and all that works these days.
“I mean, is it possible I could be here in four years time and still be going for a gold medal? Hell yeah.”
The Winter Olympic Games is broadcast on the 9Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.
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