Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland has successfully defended her Olympic women’s freeski slopestyle title, claiming gold in a tightly contested final that saw Britain’s Kirsty Muir agonisingly miss out on a medal by the narrowest of margins as published by The Guardian.
The final standings saw Gremaud score 86.96 points to take gold, with China’s Eileen Gu securing silver on 86.48 and Canada’s Megan Oldham bronze with 76.46. Muir finished fourth with 76.05 points, just 0.41 behind Oldham.
Gu, needing to overtake Gremaud on her final run, made an error on the first rail, effectively handing the gold to the Swiss skier before Gremaud had even taken her last run. Gremaud then celebrated by coming down the slope with a Swiss flag as a cape, milking the moment for the crowd.
For Muir, it was a case of what might have been. After scoring 37.15 on her first run and 63.01 on her second, she put down a strong final run that included a massive last jump, but it was not enough to climb onto the podium. According to the BBC, Muir has some of the bigger tricks in her repertoire, making her a medal threat, particularly on the rails. Muir herself said she listens to music to get into the zone during competitions, experiencing a flow state once she leaps off.
The competition featured three runs per athlete, with the best score counting. The athletes competed in reverse order of their qualification scores, with Gremaud, as the defending champion and favourite, going last. After two runs, the top six were Gremaud with 86.96, Gu with 86.58, Oldham with 69.76, China’s Liu Mengting with 67.46, Switzerland’s Giulia Tanno with 65.85, and Muir with 63.01.
In the earlier runs, Finland’s Anni Karava posted scores of 49.61 and 63.51, while the United States’ Avery Krumme scored 52.40 but crashed on the first rail in her final attempt. Liu Mengting had a high of 67.46 but faltered on one run with 13.66. Italy’s Maria Gasslitter improved from 50.33 to 52.45, and Tanno scored 65.85. Austria’s Lara Wolf, despite an error on the first rail, scored 52.83 and performed a superman front flip when the pressure was off.
Canada’s Megan Oldham, who was in bronze medal position, crashed on the landing of her second run, with both skis coming off, but she recovered to post a 76.46 in her final run to secure bronze. Other competitors included Canada’s Naomi Urness, who jumped to sixth with an impressive final run after scores below 47 points earlier, and Switzerland’s Giulia Tanno and Austria’s Lara Wolf, who could not break into the medal places.
