Just five days have passed since Kirsty Muir was left bereft after finishing just 0.41 points shy of a bronze medal in the slopestyle, but the freestyle skier looked to have brushed off any lingering disappointment with an assured performance in big air qualifying.
The 21-year-old progressed in fourth position with a combined score of 166.50 from her best two runs, knowing she has plenty still in her locker for Monday’s final.
Canada’s Megan Oldham, who pipped Muir to that bronze medal last Monday, qualified in top spot on 171.75 points, ahead of China’s defending Olympic champion Eileen Gu – competing in big air for the first time since that 2022 triumph – and Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud.
Muir, who has won big air World Cup and X Games medals, told BBC Sport: “I just wanted to get my runs down and I’m super stoked that I did.”
Reflecting on her slopestyle performance, she said: “There has been a lot of love. Although it was a fourth and I wanted more, it is still fourth in the world on the Olympic stage.”
