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This time, surely, Kirsty Muir must have believed that a Winter Olympic medal was in her grasp. But as a thrilling big air competition reached its denouement, an Italian with no anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee came down a 180‑feet ramp and drove a stake through the Briton’s heart.
It all looked so promising when the 21-year-old from Aberdeen landed a stunning left double 1620, with four and a half rotations, to move into the medal positions.
However, with four jumps of the competition left, Flora Tabanelli, who tore her ACL in November, did the same trick but only better to score 94.25 points and steal the bronze medal.
“It was a little bit bittersweet,” said Muir, who was unable to respond on her final jump. “I didn’t know what she did, but I knew it bumped my score by a decent amount and therefore I really did have to go for it.
“I went for the 16 again but wanted to get a tail grab in there and that was the thing I knew would give me the best chance of getting on to the podium so I’m really stoked that I went for it. I gave it my all and I’m taking that with me.”
Muir was right to hold her head high. After a competition that was delayed 75 minutes because of heavy snow and high winds, she played a blinder – only to find three women performing even better.
The Canadian Megan Oldham deservedly took gold with a score of 180.75, with China’s Eileen Gu second with 179 and Tabanelli third on 178.25. Muir was 3.5pts back in fourth. It was her second time in that unfortunate position after her fourth in the women’s freeski slopestyle last week.
Earlier, Dave Ryding zigged and zagged for a fifth and final time at a Winter Olympics on Monday. “I said I would ski race until my legs fall off and I think they pretty much have,” he said.
Ryding’s 17th-placed finish in the men’s slalom in Bormio was not quite the swansong the 39-year-old had intended. But sometimes legacy matters as much as medals. He leaves the slopes as undoubtedly Britain’s greatest skier, after an unlikely journey that started by dodging sheep on a 50m dry-ski slope in Pendle, Lancashire.
“I did it a totally different way and you probably say it was a one in a million shot,” he said. “But I proved that you can do it.”
UK Sport may think differently, but not all Winter Olympic events are created equal. In some sports, having a technical advantage can mean a competitor has one hand on a medal before they even start; while in others, such as slalom skiing, the heritage and depth of competition matters. So when Ryding became the only Briton to win a World Cup skiing event, in Kitzbühel four years ago, it counts as something out of the ordinary.
“Five-time Olympian, World Cup winner – I really can’t ask for much more,” he said. “The icing on the cake would have been to pull something out today. I just didn’t quite have it to be honest. But I will never look back thinking: ‘Did I stop too soon?’ I gave it my all until the last gate.”
Skiing has a reputation for being a posh sport, but Ryding is anything but. His dad was a market trader, his mother a hairdresser. When he started at the age of six, sometimes the sheep would run across him while he was training. On other occasions they would leave excrement that would cause him to slip.
It was only when he was 12 that Ryding tried skiing on snow for the first time – after his working-class parents promised they would take their first family skiing holiday if he and his sister, Jo, got to a decent level.
Even this fifth Olympics was a struggle to get to. In 2022, UK Sport completely cut skiing’s funding; while it then relented and gave Ryding £80,000 a year, he decided it would be better spent helping his teammates, including Billy Major, who finished 16th, travel to events.
While he is retiring, Ryding says he wants to stay in the sport and bring through the next wave of British skiers and help them become World Cup winners.
“I would put a bit of money on it saying that it is possible,” he said. “We have Youth Olympic and world junior championship medals so the next generation is amazing. I really hope UK Sport sees that and get behind them.”
Ryding has already set his sights on a new target: lowering his parkrun personal best of 16min 54sec. “For sure, I don’t think I’ll get a dad bod too soon,” he said, smiling as he waved a final goodbye.
Elsewhere, the British men’s and women’s curlers are in danger of missing out on the semi-finals after losing on Monday. Team GB’s men lost 7-6 against Norway, while the women were downed 6-10 by Switzerland.
