Lead Image: Sam Mellish
After the extremely chaotic nature of the wind affected women’s final of snowboard slopestyle, the first thing to report here is that it was nice to see a contest where the luck of the elements played no real part. The second thing to report, and arguably the most exciting, is that Isabel Atkin has become the first ever British athlete to win a medal on skis.
Atkin’s super clean final run earned her a score of 84.60 and got her a bronze medal. And if you’ll forgive us this opportunity to put on our Union Jack hats for a second, it really was a magnificent thing to see unfold.
Earlier in the day, the women’s ski slopestyle qualification turned out to be an Olympics 2018 highlight for Team GB with not one but two of our skiers making it through to the final in the form of Isabel Atkin and Katie Summerhayes.
“Isabel Atkin has become the first ever British athlete to win a medal on skis.”
Isabel stomped her second quali run, bagging a brilliant score of 86.80. While Katie delivered two very solid runs, the second one, in our humble opinion, being marked slightly on the lowside at 77.60. Either way, the pair made it through to the final in fourth and 10th place respectively and showed once again how far Britain have come in the sport.
Katie Summerhayes, who was bravely skiing on with an injured ankle, walked away with a highly respectable 71.40 score and seventh place finish in the final.
The event was dominated by the Swiss skiers Sarah Hoefflin and Mathilde Grimaud. Going into the last runs, Grimaud was winning with an excellent 88.00 but she was outdone by her compatriot at the last when Hoefflin delivered a spectacular 91.20.
Gripping to the last and with a British success story to go with it, this is one slopestyle competition we won’t be forgetting about anytime soon.
1) Sarah Hoefflin (SUI) – 91.20
2)Mathilde Grimaud (SUI) – 88.00
3) Isabel Atkin (GBR) – 84.60
4) Maggie Voisin (USA) – 81.20
5) Johanne Killi (NOR) – 76.80
6) Yuki Tsubota (CAN) – 74.40
7) Katie Summerhayes (GBR) – 71.40
8) Jennie Lee Burmansson (SWE) – 65.00
9) Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen (NOR) – 60.40
10) Devin Logan (USA) – 56.80
11) Emma Dahlstrom (SWE) – 52.40
12) Anastasia Tatalina (OAR) – 51.20
