Matthew Graham

Fast Facts

Sport: Freestyle Skiing
Event: Moguls
Olympic History: Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018, Beijing 2022
Highlights: Silver at PyeongChang 2018, 2020-21 Crystal Globe winner, silver at 2019 World Championships
Year Born: 1994

About Matt

Milano Cortina will be Matt Graham’s fourth Olympic Games and likely his last chance to claim that elusive gold. He won silver in moguls at PyeongChang 2018 and was the World Cup champion heading into Beijing 2022 before a horror training injury derailed his Games.  

Matt’s ability to bounce back from that disappointment and stay at the top of his sport for so long confirms his champion status. With dual moguls added to the Olympic programme in 2026, he has double the chance for the fairytale ending. 

Born and raised on the NSW Central Coast, Matt Graham found his path early at Perisher Winter Sports Club, where moguls quickly became his favourite discipline. By 13, he was the youngest athlete in the New South Wales Institute of Sport program and on a rapid ascent, debuting on the World Cup at Deer Valley in 2010 and placing fourth at his first World Championships in Voss in 2013. 

Matt made his Olympic debut at Sochi 2014, where he finished seventh, just shy of the super-final. The following seasons delivered his first World Cup podiums, highlighted by breakthrough wins and runner‑up in 2015-16, when he was named Ski and Snowboard Australia Athlete of the Year. 

At PyeongChang 2018 he became Australia’s 11th Winter Olympic medallist, winning silver in the men’s moguls with a superb final run that sealed second behind Canada’s Mikaël Kingsbury. 

Matt’s consistency on the world stage continued with silver at the 2019 World Championships in Deer Valley, and in the disrupted 2020–21 season he achieved a career milestone: the Crystal Globe as the number one ranked men’s moguls skier, alongside another World Championships silver in Almaty. 

Just seven weeks before his third Olympic Winter Games, a heavy crash in training at Idre Fjäll in December 2021 left him with a broken collarbone and surgery, yet he mounted a rapid return for Beijing 2022. Eliminated in qualifying, he was bitterly disappointed and building back from that has been his biggest challenge. Yet his remarkable comeback underscored his resilience and set the stage for the next phase of his career. 

Matt rebounded in style in 2023. At the World Championships in Bakuriani he won silver in the single moguls and bronze in dual moguls, then capped the season with bronze at the Almaty World Cup to finish second overall in the standings. 

Shoulder surgery meant a delayed start to 2023–24, but he returned to take two World Cup bronzes, including a podium at the Almaty final. Notably, he put down a high‑degree‑of‑difficulty package, featuring the back double full into a cork 1080. This secured another top‑three and the 25th World Cup podium of his career.  

In March 2025, Matt added another chapter at the World Championships in Engadin/St Moritz, taking bronze in the men’s dual moguls after a dramatic semi-final. He increased his career tally to five World Championships medals, the most by any Australian winter sports athlete. He also finished the season with another dual moguls World Cup bronze in Almaty, the 27th World Cup podium of his career. 

Matt started his 2025-26 World Cup and Olympic campaign with fourth in the opening World Cup of the season in Ruka, Finland. The next day he bounced back in emphatic fashion to claim gold and the fifth World Cup win of his career. It was his first win in Ruka, and he dominated all three phases of the competition with a winning run of 81.72 points.  

At Val St. Come in Canada in early January, Matt won silver with 83.50 behind 2018 Olympic champion and local hero Mikael Kingsbury (85.83). The following day the Australian was fifth in the dual moguls. 

At the final World Cup before the Milano Cortina Olympics, Matt qualified in third spot but he had a problem on his second jump in the finals and finished 16th. This result meant he heads to Milano ranked second on World Cup points. His form across the season shows he is another strong podium chance at the Olympics. 

Away from competition, Matt has balanced elite skiing with studies in civil engineering and business at the University of Newcastle and is a talented sailor from his junior days. He still calls Gosford home, credits early mentorship from fellow Australian moguls great Dale Begg‑Smith. Matt keeps life grounded by spending time with his wife Jess and their daughter Ada. 

What defines Matt’s longevity is not only medals but his capacity to evolve, technically and mentally, through highs and setbacks. From his first club turns at Perisher to Olympic silver and a record World Championships haul, he has become a standard‑bearer for Australian moguls, inspiring the next generation while chasing the perfect run of his own.