World Cup bronze for Matt Graham & Josie Baff

Courtesy OWIA

Matt Graham and Josie Baff have both claimed World Cup bronze medals overnight, Graham's was the 27th podium of his career in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and the 12th for Baff in Erzurum, Türkiye.

The 2018 Olympic silver medallist Graham shared a historic moment with fellow competitors Mikael Kingsbury and Ikuma Horishima on the first ever mogul skiing “dad podium,” as all three skiers became first time fathers just prior to the 202/25 season.

In the match-up for bronze, Graham defeated Korean Daeyoon Jung 22-13, his second dual mogul podium of the season. Canadian Mikael Kingsbury was victorious 21-14 in the gold medal dual over Ikuma Horishima of Japan.

“It’s great to be back on the podium," said Graham. We have been knocking on the door to have the dad podium all season. Two times we have finished 1-2-4, so to get 1-2-3 is pretty awesome."

“I was feeling the pressure a little at the top, it was running through my head, but I had to tell myself to land the top air, ski a run and let it happen from there in the final dual.

“I am really fit and healthy at the moment, the body is feeling great, so I am looking forward to going to Livigno and checking out the (2026 Olympic) course there and then finishing off at the World Championships (in St Moritz).

Cooper Woods also performed well finishing in seventh place, after going down to eventual winner Kingsbury in the quarter-finals. Jackson Harvey finished in 19th with George Murphy and Oliver Logan earning a share of 21st.

With two World Cup events remaining, Matt Graham is ranked third overall in the combined mogul standings, sixth in single moguls and fourth in dual moguls.

Both final World Cup events of the season will take place on the future 2026 Olympic venue in Livigno, Italy, with moguls on March 11 and dual moguls on March 12.

Bronze for Baff in Erzurum

Josie Baff raced to her third podium of the season in Erzurum, Türkiye, in a close final that went right to the finish line.

Racing under sunny skies on a long demanding course, Baff started strongly winning her quarter-final and then went through to the Big Final medal round after crossing the line in second place in the semi-final.

In the Big Final, Baff was in third for most of the race but came close in the final stages to be narrowly behind Lea Casta of France in second place by 0.12 seconds, and only 0.19 behind winner Charlotte Bankes of Great Britain.

“This has been the most demanding course so far on tour” said the 22-year-old Baff from Jindabyne in the NSW Snowy Mountains. “The high altitude has really tested a lot of us with the base level around 2500m. The course was fast too, so I’m happy to end the day with another podium.

“Up next is the teams event tomorrow and I’ll be paired with Cam Bolton, so I’m really looking forward to that.”

Three other Australian women also made it through to the quarter-final stage; Belle Brockhoff was 11th in her first event of the season after returning from injury, Mia Clift was 13th and Amber Essex 14th.

In the men’s event German Leon Ulbricht was victorious while Cam Bolton was Australia’s best, making it through to the quarter-finals to finish 16th. In the round of 32, Jarryd Hughes finished 19th and Adam Lambert 26th. Missing finals in the qualification round were Declan Dent 35th, James Johnstone 41st and Matthew Thomas 49th.

After five events, Baff is ranked third on the standings with 310 points, trailing Casta in second on 365 and Bankes out in front on 450. Cam Bolton is fifth on the men’s standings.

A mixed snowboard cross team event will take place tomorrow in Türkiye, with Australia entering two teams, one featuring Baff and Bolton and the second of Clift and Hughes.