History for Graham with St Moritz Bronze, Lambert & Baff Shine in Montafon with Double Silver

Freestyle skier and New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Matt Graham has claimed Australia’s first medal at the 2025 FIS Freestyle and Snowboard World Championships, winning bronze in a courageous performance in the iconic Swiss resort town of St Moritz, where three of the top four men suffered heavy crashes in a wild semi-final round of skiing.

The 30-year-old now has five World Championship medals in his remarkable career, the most of any Australian winter sports athlete, surpassing snowboarder Scotty James, who will be aiming to join Graham on five podiums next week in St Moritz.

Graham advanced through the early rounds with a 19-16 victory over Sweden’s Robin Olgaard in round 16, followed by a 23-12 win against Mateo Jeannesson of Great Britain in the quarter-finals.

In the first semi-final, Graham went head-to-head with legendary Canadian skier Mikael Kingsbury in a thrilling duel. Both athletes pushed themselves to the absolute limit, but just before the bottom jump, Graham lost a ski at high speed, causing him to cartwheel down the course. After this setback, Kingsbury advanced to the big final and Graham to the small final and the opportunity for the bronze medal.

The second semi-final saw Japan’s Ikuma Hiroshima and Sweden’s Filip Gravenfors both crash heavily.

Hiroshima advanced to the gold medal match up but was unable to compete further.

In the small final, Graham’s opponent Gravenfors pushed out of the start gate but could not continue due his semi-final injury. Graham completed the course in a solo run to claim the bronze medal.

Hiroshima’s withdrawal from the final duel gave Kingsbury the gold medal.

“It was probably one of the hardest earned podiums of my career,” Graham said.

“After a big crash last week in Livigno [Italy], not knowing if I would be able to compete, to then ski the way I did today and get down the run, then have a big crash in the semi-final against Mikael, rattled everything a little bit.”

“Fortunately, I was able to ski to the bronze medal,” Graham added.

Graham said that while his victory was a good way to cap off the long season, it has come with ebbs and flows.

“My third dual podium for the year is unreal, and also another “Dad Podium”, this time at the World Championships, which is pretty special with Ikuma and Mikael.

“I hope they are okay from their crashes.”

“The course was challenging – it was icy at the start of the day, and consequently the top air landing and first five turns got trashed,” Graham described the course.

“On paper the course wasn’t that tricky, but there were a few little technical elements to it.”

“Heading into the small-final, I didn’t know what state Filip was in. He is a crazy duals skier,” Graham added.

I” was in a lot of pain myself and just wanted to get down the run and be in one piece, so I was just willing to ski my run and whatever happened, happened.”

“I didn’t realise he was inured or sore, it wasn’t until I landed the top jump and I couldn’t hear or sense him, that I knew I was in the clear. But I didn’t realise he pushed out and slipped his way down the course.”

“Our team is really close,” Graham said.

“They are my second family. Having my mum and dad here was also special, it was a little bittersweet given the circumstances, and I was in shock to be honest when I crossed the line, so I broke down a little and got a bit emotional.”

Also competing for Australia in the final event of the moguls skiing competition season were Cooper Woods (NSWIS) in eighth place, Charlotte Wilson (NSWIS) 15^th, Emma Bosco 17^th, Jackson Harvey (NSWIS) 18^th and George Murphy (NSWIS) 23^rd.

At the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup in Montafon, Austria, NSWIS athletes Adam Lambert and Josie Baff secured podium finishes, giving great confidence for the Australian team heading into the World Championships next week in St Moritz.

Lambert was second in the individual event, and was then joined with Baff for another runner up placing in the mixed team event.

Lambert continued his great recent form to make it back-to-back individual World Cup medals, winning every heat from round 32, through to the semi-final to secure his place in the big-final.

In the big-final medal round, Lambert faced a difficult proposition against three French riders: Loan Bozzolo, Aidan Chollet and Merlin Surget. Lambert was mid-field for most of the final, but worked his way into a strong position for the best run to the finish line, overtaking Chollet for second place and the fifth World Cup podium of his career.

Bozzolo took the win, Chollett was third and Surgent fourth.

Baff advanced through to her fourth big-final of the season, after crossing the line in second place in her quarter and semi-final heats.

In the women’s big-final, the 2023 World Championship silver medallist finished in fourth place, trailing French women Lea Casta in first, Julia Pereira de Sousa in second and Charlotte Bankes of Great Britain in third.

Other Australian results included Cameron Bolton (NSWIS) 13^th, Mia Clift (NSWIS) 16^th, Abbey Wilson (NSWIS) 18^th on debut, James Johnstone (NSWIS) a personal best 24^th, Jarryd Hughes (NSWIS) 28^th, Declan Dent (NSWIS) 37^th, Cameron Turner (NSWIS) 46^th on debut and Matthew Thomas 52^nd.

In the mixed team event, Lambert and Baff combined for Australia’s second team’s medal of the season.

The pair moved through the quarter and semi-finals in second place to advance to the big-final against France 1, France 2, and Great Britain 1.

First to drop were the male riders and Lambert had a tough heat, almost crashing out in the middle section finishing fourth, 0.44 seconds behind France 1 in first.

Baff rode well in the final women’s run, making up the time differential from the first run early and then battling it out with the two French teams for the win.

Baff fell just short of victory in a thrilling photo finish, missing the win by just three hundredths of a second to the France 2 team of Pereira de Sousa and Chollet. Rounding out the podium in third was the France 1 team of Casta and Bozzolo.

Snowboard cross qualifying at the World Championships in St Moritz is on March 27 and the final the next day on March 28, then the mixed team event on the 29^th.

Representing Australia in the women’s event will be Josie Baff, Mia Clift, and Amber Essex, and in the men’s event Adam Lambert, Cameron Bolton, Jarryd Hughes, and Declan Dent.

Story: Olympic Winter Institute of Australia

Feature Image: Chris Hocking