Kirsty Muir once again came very close to winning a Winter Olympic medal.
Freestyle skier Kirsty Muir once again came very close to a Winter Olympic medal for Team GB by finishing second and fourth at the Games.
Competing in big air, Muir scored a total of 174.75 points from her best two runs, 3.5 points behind Italian bronze medallist Flora Tabanelli.
This comes just a week after she missed the slopestyle bronze medal by just 0.41 points.
Canada’s Megan Oldham won the gold medal, with China’s defending champion Eileen Gu – competing in a major aerial competition for the first time since winning the Olympic title four years ago – this time having to settle for a silver medal.
The final was delayed by more than an hour due to a heavy blizzard at Livigno Snow Park, while Mathilde Gremaud, a medal favourite, was one of two Swiss skiers to withdraw at the last minute due to injury.
The field seemed to have opened up for Muir, who qualified for the final in fourth place.
But in a surprising first round, four skiers posted scores of 90.00 points or higher, with Muir finishing seventh and knowing she needed to perform big.
She did just that, posting 93.00, which was the highest score of the second run and moved her into the silver medal position.
Gu, already a silver medallist in slopestyle at these Games, was well off the pace, struggling on her second attempt, but she improved her final jump to drop Muir to third place.
The Chinese skier celebrated as if his medal was assured at that moment, despite many skiers waiting to push him off the podium.
As it proved, they could not do so, although Tabanelli’s final jump of 94.25 points – the highest score of the night – was only 0.75 points short of the silver medal position.
This increased the pressure on Muir’s third and final jump. She spent her time at the top of the large air structure, talking about her options with her coach, but ultimately did not succeed in her attempt, leaving her sitting on the ice lost in her thoughts about what could have been.
More to follow.
