Australian mogul skiier Matt Graham wins two world championship medals despite fractured collarbone
It’s going downhill fast! Australian skier wins two World Championship medals despite fractured clavicle: ‘I had to change the way I sleep’
- Matt Graham was skiing with a broken clavicle
- The Australian won two medals despite the injury
- Graham says he couldn’t sleep well
Matt Graham, a two-time world championship medalist, has revealed that he has been skiing with a fractured clavicle and will undergo a third surgery later this month.
The 28-year-old skier won a silver medal in the singles competition last week at the world titles in Bakuriani, Georgia, and backed it up with a bronze in the doubles, a new Olympic event in which skiers go head-to-head. . the course against its rivals.
Graham, an Olympic silver medalist at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, was devastated four years later in Beijing when he failed to reach the final, his preparation badly disrupted by a clavicle injury he initially sustained in training.
He required two rounds of surgery before and after China due to complications, including a bruise, when the bone failed to mend.
But Graham told the AAP that he discovered last September that despite having two batches of plates and screws inserted, his clavicle still hadn’t healed.
Matt Graham, a two-time world championship medalist, has revealed that he has been skiing with a fractured clavicle and will undergo a third surgery later this month.
The 28-year-old skier won a silver medal in the singles competition last week at the world titles in Bakuriani, Georgia, and backed it up with a bronze in the doubles, a new Olympic event in which skiers go head-to-head. . the course against its rivals
“I had a plate and screws the first time, then in the rush to get back in time for the Olympics, I had what they call a non-union, which is when the bone doesn’t heal,” he said.
‘I had to go back in after the Olympics and redo the operation, so I had a new set of plates and screws for that.
“And then I found out in September that he had another non-union, but where he was I felt like he was going to get over the season and do it in the offseason.”
The Gosford champion crashed earlier this month at Deer Valley in Utah, where he won a World Cup event for the first time since 2017, and doubled home plate.
Graham was forced to wear the new number to competition in Georgia, where he was beaten only by Canadian ace Mikael Kingsbury, an eight-time world champion.
“I didn’t worry too much until I had a big shock that hit my clavicle really hard and I bent the plate, but it calmed down after a week or so,” Graham told the AAP.
“I had to change the way I sleep a bit, but it doesn’t affect me much when I ski.”
In between surf trips, Graham is currently training at the NSW Institute of Sport to stay in shape ahead of the World Cup final, which takes place March 17-20 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The Gosford champion then crashed earlier this month at Deer Valley in Utah, where he won a World Cup event for the first time since 2017, and doubled home plate.
Graham was forced to wear the new number to competition in Georgia, where he was beaten only by Canadian ace Mikael Kingsbury, an eight-time world champion.
“I’m currently sitting third in the singles moguls on the World Cup tour and fourth overall, so I’ll go there and try to get a couple of results and come back with a top three ranking in both singles and singles. general”. ‘ he said.
“I have surgery scheduled for March 28 and then I’ll take the rehab journey nice and slow and give him the best chance to heal.”