This time, Kirsty Muir must surely 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 after two of the three rounds. However, with just four jumps of the competition remaining, Flora Tabanelli, who tore her ACL in November, did the same trick as Muir but only better to score 94.25 points to steal the bronze medal.
“It was a little bit bittersweet,” said Muir, who fell on her final jump and finished fourth. “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 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 in a competition for the ages. Having also come close in Beijing, when she was just 17, she will hope it is third time lucky in 2030.
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 eight days that the Scot had finished fourth, after she missed out in the women’s freeski slopestyle by 0.45pts.
Earlier, Dave Ryding zigged and zagged for a fifth and final time at a Winter Olympics before announcing his retirement. “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 gives a competitor 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 really cut through.
“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.”
As Ryding watched, Loïc Meillard became Switzerland’s first men’s Olympic slalom champion since 1948 after the first-run leader, Atle Lie McGrath, straddled a gate in his second run.
And while skiing has a reputation in Britain for being a posh sport, 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.
He had to struggle to make his fifth Olympics too. 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 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.
