Thrills, spills and chills – welcome to the 2026 Winter Olympics

Australia’s medal rush continued at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, after a smashing performance by Matt Graham to win the bronze in the men’s dual moguls on Sunday.

Australia has won five medals in the last four days of competition. Hundreds of Australian friends, fans and family are now celebrating in style in the mountain village of Livigno in the Italian Alps, where the freestyle and snowboard events have been held.

Graham’s effort extends the best performance by an Australian team at the Winter Olympics, after wins by Josie Baff in the snowboard cross, Cooper Woods in the men’s moguls, and Jakara Anthony’s redemptive* gold in Saturday’s dual moguls. Scotty James also picked up a silver medal to add to his previous Olympic silver and bronze, in the snowboard half-pipe.

The bronze medal was particularly fitting for 31 year old Graham, from Bondi NSW, who has been the mainstay* of the Australian moguls program for a decade and can leave the sport on a high. His wife Jessica and baby daughter Ada were in the crowd watching.

Graham was earlier outclassed in the round of four by number two seed Ikuma Horishima, of Japan, who had only got through skiing backwards in an earlier round.

While watching that hectic contest, the men’s Olympic champion Cooper Woods said Graham exemplified* “leadership, courage and strength’’.

Graham then had to face another Japanese opponent, Takuya Shimakawa, in the “small final” race for third place.

Teammate Jackson Murphy said the culture of intense support within the moguls team was behind the Milano Cortina success.

Headed by coach Pete McNiel, a stickler for technical perfection, the supportive environment through the highs and lows, such as Anthony’s devastation in the women’s individual event, has been rewarded here.

Australia had four skiers progress to the top 16 of the dual moguls – a head to head contest – but three of them drew the blue line, which seemed a slightly more challenging side.

Amid the chaos on the course, both Harvey, of Noosa and George Murphy of Manly were outscored and couldn’t progress through. Even Woods also skied off the course midway down the tough midsection in the round 16 and did not advance.

With the rest of week two still to come, with top World Cup performers Danielle Scott in the women’s aerials, Bree Walker in the mono bob and 16-year-old Indra Brown in the ski half-pipe, it is already the best performance by an Australian team at the Winter Olympics.

At the time of writing, Australia was vying for a top ten position on the medal tally, alongside Japan and Switzerland.

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GLOSSARY

• redemptive: an act that saves, reclaims or redeems someone or something
• mainstay: the most important part of something, providing support for everyone or everything else
• exemplified: was, gave or represented a typical example of something

EXTRA READING

Winter Olympics: week 1 highlights

Aussies to shine at Winter Games

Bluey for Brisbane Games mascot?

QUICK QUIZ

1. Which Australian won a bronze medal at the men’s dual moguls final?
2. How many gold medals has Australia won so far at these Winter Olympics?
3. How does that result compare with Australia’s previous Winter Olympics results overall?
4. What was behind the Australian moguls team’s extraordinary success, according to moguls skier Jackson Murphy?
5. Australia’s first gold medallist at these Games, moguls skier Cooper Woods, said Matt Graham exemplified what positive qualities?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Which sport?
Choose a favourite Winter Olympics sport. Create a poster. The purpose of the poster is to help other kids understand the rules of the sport, why it will be fantastic to watch and to make them fans. Use your research skills to help you.

Time: allow at least 45 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education

2. Extension
Reading about the athletes in the story, choose the one whose story so far most inspires you. Write sentences explaining your choice, using information from the article.

Time: allow at least 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES #2
1. Winter Olympic Google Doodle
Google Doodle is Google’s playful twist on its logo, often featuring animations, games, or illustrations that celebrate holidays, events, anniversaries and notable figures. It adds a touch of creativity and surprise to the Google homepage, inviting users to engage with the search engine in a fun and interactive way.

This is an example of a Google Doodle used during the Winter Olympics:

Create your own Google Doodle that celebrates one of the many sports or results of the Winter Olympic Games.

Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: Visual Arts, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
There have been some bad injuries in the Winter Olympics thus far.

Do you think dangerous sports should remain in the Olympics? State your reasons.

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES #3
1. Olympic Values
Choose a story that includes one of the following themes at the Winter Olympics:

• Perseverance
• Injury comeback
• Team success
• Fair play
• One of your own

Work with a classmate to decipher what value is shown, and how you might see this same value displayed at school.

Create a poster depicting this value and how you’ve seen it in the Olympics and at your school.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: Visual Arts, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
When it comes to the medal tally, which countries are most successful?

Research the results and analyse the reasons why this may be the case:

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Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Mathematics, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Walking in their shoes
The Winter Olympians that have headed over to Italy have been training tirelessly to represent Australia. Imagine how they must feel as their dreams of competing in the Olympics come true. It’s time to walk in their shoes and imagine what they must be thinking and feeling. Write a descriptive piece recounting your experiences. You may like to include: training in your chosen sport; being selected for the Olympic team; travelling to an exciting destination; life in the Olympic Village and the moments before, during and after your event.