As one of Australia's most successful and accomplished winter athletes, two-time Olympic finalist Matt Graham went into the Olympic year with high hopes.
Instead, as Graham told the ABC from his training base in Ruka, the year ended up being "a bit of a write off".
It was injury that cruelled Graham's Olympic challenge, a broken collarbone meaning he spent limited time on snow — just four or five days with the team in Finland — before flying out for the Games.
The 2022 Winter Olympics were Australia's most successful of all time, with Aussie athletes taking home four medals.
Of Australia's 19 Winter Games medals, nine of them have been won by Freestyle skiers, making that broad discipline Australia's most successful.
One of those medals was the silver won by Matt Graham in Pyeongchang.
In Beijing though, he finished 29th, ending his Games in tears on the freezing slopes, "heartbroken" and in pain.
"I was able to get on snow and I was able to do some good skiing and good jumping here in Finland beforehand," Graham explained.
"So I went into Beijing with a mindset that everything's fine, just treat it like a normal event.
"When I got there, the lack of time on snow and conditions there were pretty challenging and didn't suit me too well, so I struggled a bit to adjust.
"In training I was able to do runs but, in the comp, I didn't execute.
"It was not an ideal circumstance and not an ideal situation, but life goes on."
In the heady period post any Olympic Games, an enormous amount of energy goes into glorifying Australia's champions — and quite rightly too. They are the few that scaled Olympus and deserve the spoils.
But those who fell agonisingly short are often left to their own devices.
Never mind that the emotions that accompanied their defeats are so brutally visceral, as tears fall in full view of the cameras and the world's press.
The discomfort of their defeat is left for the individual to be concerned about.
That can be a blessing though, an opportunity to reset and re-evaluate.
After Beijing, Graham returned to Australia and took some enforced time away from training, completing a double degree in Civil Engineering and Business from Newcastle University.
It gave him the time to put his disappointment into perspective.
"I think for me, and what helped me move on, was kinda just putting things in perspective — what we've been through for the last two years, the whole world, and at that time … Russia was just about to invade Ukraine — so if this is the worst my life is ever going to be then, big deal," Graham said.
"That kinda helped me move on and get back to things, I had to go straight home, I went straight to university and stuff like that and just kinda switched off and got back into the normal grind."
That time in Australia also helped Graham finally allow his collarbone to heal — he learned after returning from China he required a second operation after discovering the bone was still broken.
The 28-year-old said he never entertained thoughts of stepping away from the sport, and was thoroughly vindicated when he finished third in the 2022/23 season opener in Ruka, his 19th career World Cup podium.
"To get back on the horse and get back into competing was really good," Graham said.
"Ruka was a big stepping stone for that, getting back knowing that I'm still capable of podium results — in my mind I know I was, but it's still nice to get that out of the way — but for me it was probably more so the national titles at Perisher at the end of August.
"I hadn't trained an awful lot because I'd been recovering for the first half of the year then to come back and ski really well on that course, that was the confidence builder for me.
"And this year, the pressure's obviously off, the Olympics are over so it's kinda just doing the sport because I really enjoy it."
Part of that enjoyment comes from being of the more experienced members of the team and using his experience to help the next generation, as well as continuing to challenge the top athletes in the field.
"It's a pretty exciting time for the team and, a much different team than in the past, a lot younger," Graham said.
"A lot of the old guys and girls have retired, but it's exciting to see some new faces and watch people go through those first year jitters.
"Living with Cooper [Woods] and the two younger guys, George [Murphy] and Jackson [Harvey] and helping them get into their routines in places that aren't foreign to us because we go every year, but for them it's their first time so just making sure they're comfortable, they know what to expect.
"I feel like I can still get better and push the top guys and then also now help the younger guys in the team, so I feel like I'm doing it for the right reasons this year which is really cool.
"I feel more relaxed and I'm just enjoying it, enjoying going out every day and trying to learn new stuff and still trying to put the pieces together — because the damn sport's so bloody hard."
Graham followed up his third place in Ruka by reaching the final at Idre Fjäll and finishing seventh at Alpe d'Huez.
After a solid training block in Ruka, Graham made another super final in Val Saint Come on January 28, finishing sixth as his resurgence post-Beijing continued.
He then though, went one step better, claiming a first World Cup title in six years by winning on "the Champions run" at Deer Valley in Utah.
Graham, who won the crystal globe in 2021 as overall moguls World Cup champion and has two silver medals from the World Championships in Almaty (2021) and Deer Valley (2019), said he's not far off his best.
"I feel like I'm skiing really well and am always in a position to do really well in every event," Graham said, speaking to ABC Sport before the team travelled to Canada.
"I had a good result at the first stop in Ruka, with a third place, which I was pretty happy with, then a few near-misses.
"It's just about putting all the pieces together in the second half of the season to really sort of put myself in the position to get the results I know I'm capable of.
"I don't feel like I have to do anything extra or anything crazy to try and get a good result, if I can just do my run and put it all together I will be really in a good spot and in a good chance to do well."
Having been proven right on that front, Graham can now focus on the rest of the World Cup season and, perhaps, another tilt at the Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina in 2026.
