Kirsty Muir will head to the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina boasting a golden haul unmatched by any other Briton who has strapped on skis.
The Aberdeen 21-year-old has won World Cup gold medals in both slopestyle and Big Air disciplines so far this season – and topped the lot by snaring the slopestyle title at this month’s prestigious X Games in Aspen, Colorado.
It marks a stunning return to form for Muir, who was forced to write off the entirety of the 2024 season after rupturing her ACL following a World Cup race in Copper Mountain.
Having made her Olympic debut as a 17-year-old in Covid-stricken Beijing, she credits that period of unscheduled downtime with boosting her chances of returning four years later as one of Team GB’s strongest medal chances.
Muir told the Press Association: “I very much appreciated the time at home with friends and family because it’s rare that I get to spend any time at home.
“I learned a lot about patience. The schedule is non-stop, so although taking a break was really difficult, I feel like I really learned a lot about myself, and when I need to rest.
“The Olympics was always still a target for me, but at the same time it took away some of the pressure to get results to qualify, because I was just very focused on taking each step as it came.”
Muir performed admirably on her Olympic debut in the Chinese capital, settling for a fifth-placed finish in the Big Air final after holding third place at halfway, and eighth in slopestyle.
Four years on, she is in a strong position to become only the second British medallist on skis, after Izzy Atkin, who won an historic ski slopestyle bronze in Pyeongchang in 2018.
She is one of a number of major medal bets from a thriving freestyle and snowboard programme, which was given a literal lift-off in South Korea when popular snowboard star Billy Morgan claimed bronze in the inaugural Big Air event.
“I remember Billy’s moment from the 2018 Games,” recalled Muir, who was 13 at the time and watched it on a replay en route to training in Glenshee.
“It happened overnight because of the time difference so my mum recorded it and I watched it with my sister in the back of the car on the way to skiing ourselves,” said Muir.
“It was one of those really special moments, along with Izzy’s bronze medal, that made you realise what it was possible to achieve in the sport, and I owe a lot to those people who helped make the team what it is today.”
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