Graham heads Aussie charge in Canada and Cox retains yellow bib

Home snow must have a positive effect after the Canadians swept the Ladies podium and took first in the Mens at the Mogul Skiing World Cup in Val St Come, Canada this morning.

Despite the Canadian onslaught Britt Cox has retained her ‘FIS World Cup Standing number one ladies ranking and Matt Graham’s top five performances  has paid off moving to 3rd in the men’s ranking.  

Graham, who consistently performs, qualified 5th and was joined by team mates Brodie Summers and Rohan Chapman-Davies in the final 16.

Only Graham moved through to the top six medal round, ranked fourth and that was where he ended up – scoring 81.11 just missing the podium in a tight-scoring event, which was taken by Mikael Kingsbury (86.44), Frenchman Sacha Theocharis (82.20) and 17-year-old Swede Walter Wallberg (82.19).

“I am pretty happy overall with how today went,” Matt said.

“My goal was to bounce back with a good result after last week's disappointment in Lake Placid. The course was tricky and catchy so I am happy to put down three reasonably clean runs.”

“Obviously, I would have liked to finish on the podium so I am a little disappointed with my super final run as I made a small error or my bottom jump landing (cork 1080). 

I am looking forward to Calgary next week as I really enjoy that course and I think it can suit my skiing if I perform well,” he said.

Head coach Steve Desovich says a couple of errors were costly.

“Matt had a nice run going into Final 2 but had some key errors with turns and on the landing of the 2nd jump,” said Desovich. “Calgary has been a big challenge in the past, so like Britt he looks forward to setting the right tone on the initial training day.
 

Leading the Ladies qualification round, Britt Cox skied brilliantly notching up 75.30 points going into Final 1 where she again posted a high score (78.81) behind Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe.

The dual World Cup winner from Lake Placid and Ruka had to settle for 5th behind four Canadians in the medal final but retains her yellow bib at the top of the World Cup standings.

“Today was a solid day for me,” Britt said.  

Ï was really happy with the execution of my jumps today but a few mistakes in the middle section cost me a spot on the podium. I’m keen to get to work and fix those things up.”

Overall it was a positive day but one that has left me determined to make the adjustments that I know will help me perform my best.”

Coach Desovich is already looking toward tomorrow.

“Britt skied well in the qualification and Final 1 runs and just had a few mistakes in the middle of her run in the super finals. We look forward to the Calgary training with an eye towards progress. It’s a long season and therefore she needs to just focus on the next training day and go from there.”

Brodie Summers and Rohan Chapman-Davies made it to the final 16 of 55 competitors and finished 13th and 14th respectively.  

“Brodie continues to gain consistency run by run and just needs to complete the job in competition,” said Coach Desovich.  

“This is a function of his skills but also adapting to the course and the never ending set of variables that are present in our sport. Brodie is skiing soundly strategically now but not necessarily yet for the whole run on every occasion,” he concluded.

Other Australian qualification results were James Matheson (30th) in the men and for the ladies Claudia Gueli (18th), Jakara Anthony (20th), Madi Himbury (22nd), Kyrstle Yin (25th), Pip Sparrow 26th) and Nicole Parks (30th).     

Next stop for the fourth Mogul Skiing World Cup is Deer Valley, USA on February 2.