Graham returns to moguls form after virus

Friday, 12 January 2018:

Australian moguls skier Matt Graham has returned to the World Cup podium, finishing third in the second of two legs at Deer Valley in Utah.

Graham could only manage 13th the previous night due to a stomach virus which required hospital admission on Tuesday.

But the 23-year-old pushed through to earn the bronze medal and his fourth top-three finish of the World Cup season.

"Coming from Calgary I picked up a pretty bad stomach virus on travel day and for the last few days I've been in the wars," Graham said after being hospitalised for three hours on Tuesday night for intravenous treatment.

"A lot of people were telling me to take it easy and take the day off," he said of the first World Cup.

"I listened to my body and knew what I could do.

"We have a week off now and I can recover then come out firing in the final event in Tremblant, Canada, before PyeongChang (the Olympic Winter Games)."

Women's moguls world champion Britt Cox finished fourth on Thursday after a seventh-place finish the day before, and following a career-best fifth on Wednesday, Jakara Anthony came 12th on Thursday night.

Elsewhere, Torah Bright's hopes of qualifying for next month's Winter Olympics are slim after the snowboarding great fell short of the required World Cup top 10 finish at a meet in the US.

The Australian Olympic gold and silver medallist finished 15th in the preliminary stage of the halfpipe event in Snowmass, Colorado, to miss the eight-person final.

The 31-year-old, who has seldom competed since the 2014 Sochi Olympics, must now rely on a top 10 result at the World Cup event in Switzerland next week for the chance to compete in PyeongChang.

But her participation at a fourth Olympic Winter Games still won't be guaranteed, with compatriots Emily Arthur and Holly Crawford in the running for Australia's two berths.

Bright began her PyeongChang campaign last month with a gold and silver medal in the second-tier Nor-Am Cup in Colorado.

She produced runs of 43.75 and 55.75 on Thursday, well behind American pacesetter Arielle Gold, who was awarded 91 points for her best run.

Arthur and Crawford also missed the final after finishing 12th and 14th respectively.

In the men's competition, Australian world champion Scotty James qualified fourth for the 10-person final, where he'll will meet an in-form Shaun White as the American legend warms up for a crack at a third Olympic gold medal.

James and White will be among the favourites for PyeongChang, with the latter topping qualification with a score of 95 to follow his World Cup bronze medal at Copper Mountain last month.

Also at Snowmass, Australia's Tess Coady qualified sixth for the snowboard slopestyle final.






AAP






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