British teenager Kirsty Muir finished fifth in the inaugural Big Air final as Eileen Gu won gold for hosts China at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Aberdeen schoolgirl Muir, at 17 the youngest member of the 50-strong British team in Beijing, had qualified in seventh place for the final.
In the final, her opening run of 90.25 points courtesy of a 1260 put her in the bronze-medal position but she could not replicate it in the subsequent two rounds.
Of her Olympic debut, she said: “I’m so happy right now honestly, the level was insane. It feels amazing. I couldn’t have hoped to have skied better today and I’m so proud of all the girls.”
Gu is the undeniable poster girl of these Games. A former American athlete she switched allegiance to compete for China – her mother was born in Beijing.
But Big Air was considered arguably the weakest of the three events in which she will compete at these Games.
She had been lying in third place going into her final run but produced a stunning 1620 to match the highest individual score across the three rounds.
Early leader Tess Ledeux, of France, could not better it with her last attempt to finish just 0.75points behind Gu’s winning score of 188.25.
“That was the best moment of my life,” Gu said after her win. “The happiest moment, day, whatever of my life. I just cannot believe what just happened.”
Of her last-run 1620, she said: “That was a trick I have never done before, had never attempted before. I was thinking ‘should I improve on my previous one and go for the silver or should I whip out this random trick I’d never done before and go for gold?
“In my head, I wanted to represent myself and this competition style I really take pride in, and that desire to push myself and push the sport. Even if I didn’t land it, I felt it would send a message out to the world and hopefully encourage more girls to break their boundaries.”
Elsewhere, Austria’s Matthias Mayer successfully defended his Super-G title ahead of American Ryan Cochran-Siegle with pre-event favourite Aleksander Aamodt Kilde taking the bronze.
But it was revealed on Tuesday that Cochran-Siegle’s American teammate Nina O’Brien had broken her left leg in a fall during the women’s Super-G the preceding day. The 24-year-old underwent surgery on the open fracture on Monday night.
In one of arguably the stand-out duels of these Games, American Nathan Chen came out on top in the figure skating following the short program as defending champion Yuzuru Hanyu fell and could only record the eighth-best score, leaving the Japanese an uphill battle for a medal.
Czech star Ester Ledecka, who made history four years ago by winning gold in two different sports at the same Games, defend the first of those titles as she triumphed in the women’s parallel giant slalom snowboarding. She is set to swap her board for skis in the Super-G and downhill events later in the Games.
Winter Olympics 2022 medal table
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
|
1 |
China |
3 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
2 |
Sweden |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
ROC |
2 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
4 |
Netherlands |
2 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
Germany |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
Norway |
2 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
7 |
Slovenia |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
8 |
Italy |
1 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
9 |
Austria |
1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
10 |
Canada |
1 |
1 |
4 |
6 |
- |
Great Britain |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
