Winter Olympics: British teenager Kirsty Muir qualifies for ski big air final
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Teenager Kirsty Muir qualified for the Winter Olympics ski big air final – but fellow Team GB athlete Katie Summerhayes narrowly missed out.
Muir, 17, was seventh with a score of 157.50 in Beijing while Summerhayes agonisingly finished 13th on 136.50, with the top 12 advancing to Tuesday’s final.
“I was really happy to land my first jump, as I had crashed during practice a bit.” Muir said after scoring 89.25, which was the second highest individual score in qualifying.
The Scot said it was a dream come true to compete at an Olympics and she was “really excited” for the final as ski big air makes its Games debut at a former industrial estate in Shougang.
Muir won silver in big air at the 2018 Winter Youth Olympics but has had more success on the senior World Cup tour in slopestyle, which she will also contest in Beijing.
Canada’s Megan Oldham, 20, topped qualifying and there was relief for home favourite Eileen Gu after the 18-year-old came through in fifth place with solid scores on jumps one and three.
The men’s qualifying starts at 05:30 GMT with Britain’s James Woods in action.