Kirsty Muir in tears after missing Winter Olympics medal by 0.41 points

Kirsty Muir agonisingly missed out on on Team GB’s first medal of the Winter Olympics after her final run took her to within 0.41 of a judging point from bronze.

Her final run in the ski slopestyle final meant that she surged from 10th after round one, sixth after the second run, to fourth at the finish. A tally of 76.05 was short of Canada’s Megan Oldham on 76.46 by just about the narrowest possible margin.

With a win in the prestigious X Games earlier this year, Muir was among the favourites alongside Mathilde Gremaud and Eileen Gu – now respectively gold and silver medallists in consecutive Games – but ultimately paid for errors in the opening two runs.

She needed a stand-out last run and, while she improved both on the rails at the top of the slope and then by hitting a 1080 jump (three full rotations) followed by a double cork 14 (four full spins), she was unable to convince the judges. 

Muir was in tears at the finish, conducting her interviews with her skiing goggles still on.

“I put it out there on every run, it just wasn’t working for me,” she said. “I struggled to accept how close it was.  I’m proud of myself but in a bit of a hole right now.

“My family were hugging me super tight. Before the comp, after the comp, they’re always saying how proud they are of me, and that they don’t care what happens as long as I’m okay. It’s hard. I just wanted this a lot. I think I just need to have a moment to process, try and find the positives I can, and then completely reset.”