2022 Event Recap - Matt Graham chalks up 7th ABOM Mogul Challenge victory under lights at Mt Buller
Matt Graham (Aus) and Avital Carrol (Austria)
Champions of the 2022 ABOM Mogul Challenge. The return of the ABOM Mogul Challenge to Mt Buller yesterday was a display of dazzling bumps skiing with an impressive international and local line up thrilled to be back on the Chamois course.
Familiar faces and newcomers were cheered enthusiastically by the spellbound crowd who lined the course all afternoon and into a chilly night rubbing shoulders with plenty of Olympic, World Cup and emerging talent. The blisteringly dual finals saw the top tier go head to head down the 195 metre course in just 20 seconds, squeezing in two spectacular aerial jumps between high speed bump sections. The highlight of the night was Matt Graham dominating the course and the competition to take home his 7th ABOM trophy – the most titles in the history of the event, followed by Nick Cleaver who has five in his collection. Austrian Avital Carrol beat out a strong stable of Japanese skiers to secure her first ABOM title.
Matt reflected on the win at the bottom of the course saying, “I was up against Kosuke Sugimoto and he’s one of the best skiers in the world so I just had to send it and it all came together in my last run. It’s great to be competing again at Mt Buller under lights, it’s the second time we’ve done this and it’s pretty special to be able to it here in Australia. I’m coming back from an injury and getting back into training and loving the sport again, having a lot of fun.” Avital summed up her experience taking out top place on the women’s podium, “It was super fast, super fun, charging all the time and kind of terrifying and super exciting at the same time!” 101 athletes competed over the divisions which included open, youth and masters and Mt Buller showed the international mogul community the passion and energy the resort has for the sport beamed via a live-stream from the course.
ABOM MOGUL CHALLENGE HISTORY
For some inspiration and to learn about the history of the event, be sure to check out the documentary page, featuring vision from the great video produced in 2009. |
KEY LINKS
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2019 Event Recap
Spectacular first ABOM Mogul Challenge under lights
A number of exciting dual heats saw runs going down to the wire. The format is a thrilling one for spectators featuring skiers going head to head down 197 metres of bumps with two huge jumps.
The men’s event was hotly contested, with a number of the best skiers in the world in action including Olympic Silver Medallist Matt Graham, World Cup medallist Brodie Summers, and World Cup winner Benjamin Cavet of France. It was impressive to see the jumping degree of difficulty step up in the women’s event, especially the Japanese athletes performing jumps not seen before in the women’s field at the ABOM Mogul Challenge. Brittney Cox was in good form for her 14th event starting the competition back as a Junior in 2005 ultimately taking 2nd place on the podium behind Rino Yanagimoto from Japan in the women’s. Fellow Aussie Olympian Claudia Gueli also had a good run narrowly missing the podium to take 4th place. The men put on a dazzling show with the usual contenders at the top of the table and Brodie Summers ultimately taking the top spot from James Matheson and Matt Graham who hold 6 and 1 previous ABOM title respectively. Current world number three and Mt Buller skier Jakara Anthony unfortunately came unstuck on the top jump in her qualification run, catching her feet in the soft snow with a spectacular fall earning her the biggest crash award. Mt Buller has hosted the ABOM Moguls since 1989 at the height of ‘hot dogging’ and freestyle skiing. Mt Buller is home to the Olympic freestyle team and the new lighting and improvements to the legendary Chamois run look set to ensure a strong future for the sport. Podium Results
MATHESON & ANTHONY WIN THEIR FIRST ABOM MOGUL CHALLENGE TITLES - 2018
2018 Australian Olympians James Matheson and Jakara Anthony have emerged victorious to take out the their first ever ABOM Mogul Challenge title.
In the 30th year of the event, a big field of 130 athletes from five countries took on the Chamois moguls, with spectacular dual mogul finals. Olympic Silver medalist and 6 x event winner Matthew Graham was second, with Japanese athlete Motoki Shikata in third. In the women's event, 2018 Olympian Madii Himbury finished second, with 2014 Olympian Taylah O'Neill in third. Prize money went to the top-3 finishes in open, with the top-3 junior and youth skiers also taking home cash from the Bank of Queensland and prizes from Bolle. 2018 RESULTS
Qualification - YOUTH LADIES (Top-8 Advance to Dual Final) Qualification - YOUTH MEN (Top-8 Advance to Dual Final) Qualification - OPEN/FIS LADIES (Top-16 Advance to Dual Final) Qualification - OPEN/FIS MEN (Top-16 Advance to Dual Final) Qualification - LEGENDS (Top-8 Advance to Dual Final) Dual Mogul Results Ladies Dual Mogul Results Men Overall - Men Overall - Ladies 2018: ABOM MOGUL CHALLENGE CELEBRATES 30 YEARS
The ABOM Mogul Challenge has been drawing a world-class field of Olympians and World Cup competitors to Mt Buller since the late 80s. There are few events so colourful, legendary and long lasting and Mt Buller is prepping for a big 30th birthday bash to mark this milestone in the iconic mogul event’s history.
The field for the 2018 ABOM Mogul Challenge is notable with PyeongChang Olympic silver medallist Matt Graham expected to wow the crowd. Matt has an impressive ABOM record, winning the event an amazing 6 times, and will no doubt be the skier to beat in the men’s field. Another athlete to watch is local bumps specialist Jakara Anthony who delivered an inspiring 4th place at the recent Winter Olympics and like Graham comes direct to the event from the National Mogul Championships held at Perisher this week. The line-up for the event boasts a total of 6 Australian athletes from the recent Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, Korea, with competitors also in action from the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Japan and Korea. All will be battling hard for the $8000 prize pool, with $2000 equal prize money going to the top male and female placegetters in the FIS Open division. The action takes place on Mt Buller’s legendary bumps run on Chamois which is home the aerial and freestyle Olympic Training Centre. One the highlights of the day’s competition is the dual mogul races which are expected to be fast, impressive and tightly timed with just fractions of seconds between the contenders. The event is on Saturday 1 September on Mt Buller’s Chamois ski run with the Open Women and Legends from 10.50am, FIS Open Men and Legends from 12.25pm. The spectacular dual Mogul Finals are expected to be a thrilling finale to the day at 2pm. Bolle and the Bank of Queensland are proud to support the event with trophies and prizes that will be presented at the ABOM Moosehead Bar at 5.30pm. Celebrations will continue into the night with the official after party at Moosehead in the ABOM from 8.30pm
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CONTACT DETAILS
2019 Results
QUALIFICATION RESULTS
Open Men's Qualification Open Ladies Qualification Legends Qualification Youth Ladies Qualification Youth Men's Qualification 
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A brief history..
ABOM Mogul Challenge from TeamBullerRiders on Vimeo.
