A freak accident has left one of Australia’s top medal contenders racing against the clock to be ready for the Beijing Winter Olympics next month.
As all of his international rivals fine-tune their preparations on the fresh snow of the Northern Hemisphere, Australian mogul star Matt Graham is choking in the sun at home, treating a broken shoulder.
A silver medalist at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, the 27-year-old broke his left collarbone when he twisted a ski and fell awkwardly during a morning training run in early Sweden. December.
Read more
Watch every moment of The Ashes live and ad-free while playing on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14 days for free now.
“It was just one of those things. I was knocked down and slammed into the front of the boss and the impact was directly on the collarbone, so it broke quite easily, ”Graham told News Corp.
“It’s unfortunate, but it’s part of the sport. As far as injuries go, it’s probably as good as it gets.
“Everyone always says it’s better to break bones than damage soft tissue, so I’m lucky it wasn’t a completely swollen shoulder or a messed up knee.”
Graham underwent immediate surgery in Switzerland, where a metal plate and screws were inserted into the bone, before returning home to Australia hoping to recover as quickly as possible.
His arm is still motionless but he fully expects to compete for gold in the Chinese capital even though his preparations have been turned upside down.
“The injury happened about seven weeks before the Games, so it’s obviously pretty tight, but the plate and screws will really speed up the rehabilitation process,” he said.
“I’m confident I’ll be there, so it’s just a matter of maximizing every day before that.”
Instead of being on the track, Graham is currently training at the gymnasium in Sydney before heading to Brisbane later this month to train at the new Olympic winter training center at the Sleeman Center.
Time is already running out, with Tuesday marking exactly one month before the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Graham suddenly found himself in a new role.
To celebrate this milestone, the Australian Olympic Committee is unveiling the official woolen team uniforms of its longtime supplier Sportscraft and as the only member of the team currently in the country, Graham has been in high demand as the one of the models.
“The countdown is really on now,” he said.
“For me, luckily, with my results from last year, I more or less qualified then. so for me it’s just about getting there and being healthy.
“The next 30 days are going to go by very quickly for me, although I would really prefer them to go as slowly as possible.”
Australia
Read more
comments
Readers’ comments on this site are moderated before publication in order to promote a lively, but civil and respectful debate. We encourage your comments, but submitting one does not guarantee publication. You can read our comment guidelines here. If you believe a comment has been rejected in error, email [email protected] and we’ll investigate. Please be sure to include the email address you use to log in so that we can locate your comment.
