Winter Olympics 2026: Kirsty Muir and Eileen Gu bid for gold in slopestyle final – live | Winter Olympics 2026
Key events
Freeski slopestyle: The top 6 standings before the third and final run:
1 M Gremaud (Can) – 86.96pts
2 E Gu (Chn) – 86.58
3 M Oldham (Can) – 69.76
4 Liu M (Chn) – 67.46
5 G Tanno (Swi) – 65.85
6 K Muir (GB) – 63.01
There’s still a medal in this for Kirsty Muir. It looks like Gremaud and Gu will do battle for gold.
Freeski slopestyle: Leader Eileen Gu comes off the first rail and recovers to score 23.00, which can be shelved. Her first jump of 86.58 is still the score to beat.
Second-place Mathilde Gremaud lands a huge 1260 on the penultimate jump and goes for an equally impressive final jump, landing superbly backwards. This could threaten the lead … it does! She goes top by 0.38pts with a 86.96 score.
Freeski slopestyle: GB’s Kirsty Muir goes 270 switch-up, backswap, 270 off the down-bar, then a huge first jump before landing the last two. It’s 63.01pts and puts her in 6th. Something on the board.
Freeski slopestyle: Finland’s Anni Karava can’t stick the landing off the penultimate jump after a couple of near misses in a cautious run. She stays on 49.61pts.
The 17-year-old American Avery Krumme also lands on her side on the final jump with a spin between 700 and 900 degrees. Kirsty Muir goes next for GB.
Freeski slopestyle: After such a promising second run, 3rd-place Megan Oldham of Canada crashes out on the final landing, both skis coming off. She looks a bit shaken but raises both hands to the crowd. Ouch.
Freeski slopestyle: Neither Guilia Tanno nor Lara Wolf can break into the medal places currently occupied by:
Gold: Eileen Gu (Chn) – 86.58pts
Silver: Mathilde Gremaud (Swi) – 83.60
Bronze: Megan Oldham (Can) – 69.76
Great Britain’s Kirsty Muir scored 37.15 on run 1 after losing it on the final jump.
Thanks Daniel. We’re approaching the business end of the women’s freeski slopestyle final. It’s make or break for those whose first run wasn’t high-scoring.
Italy’s Maria Gasslitter follows her first-run 50.33 with a 52.45. China’s Liu Menting (4th after run 1) loses her footing early on and can only manage 13.66.
Righto, that’s it from me for now. I’m going to watch the end of this then go and sauna, so here’s Billy Munday to chill with you through the next two hours.
Grimaud, the favourite and defending champ, comes out last, and there’s a lot of backwards stuff to start, hitting the centre of the rail, then a 1260 to finish that has her punching the air then holding her head, contemplating the ludicrousness of her behaviour. She’s going well ahead, I shouldn’t wonder … not she isn’t! She must make do with 83.60, which puts her second behind Eileen’s 86.58.
Eileen of China is out next, dead smart in her white suit, and lands a double cork 1260 at the end, lovely stuff. She loves it, and that felt like the best run we’ve seen so far, which ai appreciate sounds vaguely ridiculous coming from me. It’s absolutely insane what humans do to entertain themselves, and 86.58 takes her first.
She goes into the first jump backwards, then finishes with a huge jump that she doesn’t quite land. She looks devo’d at the end, but she nailed the rails at the start, and though the judges punish her with a score of 37.15, which puts her eighth out of nine, she was one move away from killing it and has two more goes so to do.
Backwards into the rail, switching direction, and this is so, so smooth…
Avery Krumme of USA starts poorly, but improves further down the course, 52.40 putting her fourth. So here comes Kirsty …
I should say, each competitor takes three goes, their best score the one which goes forward to decide who wins what.
It’s getting serious as Karava of Finland zooms down the slope, her tricks less wild that the ones we saw from Oldham, and her 49.621 puts her second-bottom.
Oldham of Canada also errs on a rail at the top of the course, but a 1260 spin at the end is followed by another with a safety grab, then a 900, and she absolutely loves it. Her 69.76 takes her into the lead.
Urness of Canada comes off a rail early doors, looking to turn her back on it, and she gets 24.65, which puts her last. Ouch.
Lara Wolf of Austria nails her routine, but our commentators reckon the difficulty wasn’t too high, a bizarre observation when we see her spinning in mid air. She gets 52.83 and third place, which tells us that “perfect execution means nothing if the difficulty isn’t there”.
Giulia Tanno of Switzerland is out next, finishing with a double cork 1080 and celebrating on landing. To my inexpert eye, she looked in good control, and gets 65.85, putting her second behind Liu.
Liu Mengting of China is next, her run not too complex, and she gets 67.46. She seems to like it.
And off we go, Gasslitter of Italy slipping off a rail – I’d obviously have nailed it all the way. She’s awarded 50.33, not great, but in a three-run final there’s plenty of scope to remedy situations. The competitors, by the way, are running in reverse order of qualification scores, so Muir goes three from the end, Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland, the defending champion and favourite for gold, waiting till last.
This is our field…
BBC tell us Muir has some of the bigger tricks – that others don’t – which make her a medal threat. She’s especially good at rails, but may well showcase gear we’ve not seen before.
Kirsty Muir says she always listens to music when she’s competing to get her into the zone. Her thoughts vanish, and once she leaps off, she can’t hear it any more. What a joy it must be to experience that flow state – speaking as a Tetris veteran, I know what she means.
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Check out our daily briefing:
Let’s also send Maisie Hill a hold tight. She didn’t make the final but, on the other hand, did return from a:
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lacerated liver
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punctured lung
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major brain bleed
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two broken vertebrae
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four broken ribs
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damaged pelvis
Not normal behaviour, mates.
On TNT, they’re showing Mia Brookes’ big air qualifying from last evening. After falling when landing her first go, she nailed her second and third, showing ridiculous temperament to perform under pressure like that, and she’s a really good chance of a medal; the final is 6.30pm.
The morning’s mixed doubles curling is over, completing the round robin section and, with Italy beating 7-6, we now know that in the semi-finals, at 5.05pm, Great Britain will face Sweden with USA meeting Italy a second time.
So what is freestyle skiing slopestyle? Says the Team GB website:
Slopestyle combines elements of freestyle skiing and skateboarding. Athletes navigate a course filled with rails, boxes, and jumps, performing tricks at each feature.
Judges focus on how creative tricks are, their difficulty, how well they are executed and the amplitude that is gained whilst they are being performed. Progression is also judged, by which skiers are rewarded for producing tricks and combined moves that have been done before.
Says me: absolute freak-of-nature insanity which, I concede, doesn’t differentiate it from any other of the many very different other events we’re enjoying.
Learn more about Muir by reading Yara El-Shaboury’s interview.
Our next big event is the freestyle skiing women’s slopestyle final. That’s at 11.30am, and Kirsty Muir of Great Britain is going for a medal.
Chemmy Alcott advises that slalomers under pressure, trying to bring home the medal opportunity their downhilling teammate has set up for them, need to forget what’s happened this morning and just get after it – “there can be no safe skiing”, words which absolutely terrify me.
I enjoyed that – it’s so interesting how tiring something that looks like involves no effort can be. But the forces, torques and tensions are so extreme that it takes an unreal toll on the body.
That’s the downhill section of the men’s combined done with; they’ll reset the course, then slalom section will be with us at 1pm, and the medals will be settled.
Goodness me, Sejersted of Norway is racing with a broken shoulder; I guess I’d assumed limbs were necessary for this activity, but apparently not. He’s trying to give his mate McGrath a shot at something tomorrow, and finishes 1.89s off the lead; effort, old mate.
Oh whoops, I misinformed myself. We’re not quite done, but it’d be a surprise if anyone among those yet to go again goes faster than Franzoni.
Franzoni of Italy does indeed record the fastest run, with Monney of Switzerland second, Odermatt of Switzerland third, and Von Allmen of Switzerland fourth. We’ll see how their partners go in tomorrow’s slalom section.
Franzoni, by the way, looks not unlike a non-ginger version of Jannik Sinner – himself a brilliant skier, good enough to contemplate life as a pro before opting for tennis. Naturally, though, he’s not missing this, so has himself a job.
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There’s a second Italy team, 36-year-old Dominik Paris an old stager relative to the 24-year-old Franzoni, and he’s close … but tires on the second half of the run and has to settle for third.
The speedometer in the corner of the screen is a pleasing addition, reminding us just how nuts all this is, and Franzoni of Italy has a chance of dipping under Switzerland’s time … here he comes, clipping a gate, and he’s quicker by 0.28s.
Austria have Switzerland in their sights, through Daniel Hemetsberger with his two black eyes and missing teeth following a training-run crash. He goes quicker … but Odermatt of Switzerland beats the time on his second run, then Schieder of Italy falls at 90mph, then gets up and dusts himself down like he’s Jake Blues.
Furthermore, which event demands the hardest athletes?
Which of these events is most terrifying? This a question that reminds me of when a teacher asked five-year-old me which hand I wanted to be caned on, and I kept saying neither – yes, a real man would’ve said either or both – except the other way around, the answer being all of them. But for the less lily-livered, there must be an answer.
The slalom section of this competition is tomorrow, which is to say the downhillers go today, then the times of the two team members are added together, with the quickest taking gold. Germany now lead, having gone faster than Switzerland.
We’re away in our skiing, Switzerland up first. They set a combined time of 1:53.64, believed to be pretty decent, but let’s see how Chechia do; so far, they’re behind.
The opportunity to absorb into a whole new world of sport and competition, love and joy, is such a blessing. It’s nice and sunny today, and I’m looking forward to seeing who has the best big coat. Last time, Ghana were the winners and by far – click the arrow, third photo.
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We’re almost ready to start the men’s team combined skiing. This is a new Olympic event that begins with downhill then moves into slalom.
The photo in question…
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Trump must’ve been steaming, etc etc.
Shout out, hold tight, biggup.
Today’s highlights
Times are all GMT. For Sydney it is +11 hours, for New York it is -5 hours and San Francisco it is -8 hours
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9.30am – Alpine skiing men’s team combined, downhill
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11.30am – Freestyle skiing women’s slopestyle final, featuring Kirsty Muir
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1pm – Alpine skiing men’s team combined
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4.30pm – Speed skating women’s 1000m
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5.05pm – Curling mixed doubles semi-final, featuring Great Britain
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6.30pm – Snowboard women’s big air final, featuring Mia Brookes
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7.12pm – Ski jumping men’s individual – normal hill, final
A primer for today’s Team GB hopes.
Preamble
Buongiorno a tutti e benvenuti alle Olimpiadi invernali 2026 – terzo giorno!
We open today with some light curling, after which it’s into the alpine skiing and the downhill discipline of the men’s team combined. That should get us going nicely for the freeski women’s slopestyle final, up at 11.30am and featuring Team GB’s 21-year-old Kirsty Muir, third-best in qualifying and going for a medal.
After that comes the final of the men’s team combined slalom at 1pm, then we might take in some women’s ice hockey, with Germany facing France, before it’s into some luge and the final of the women’s 1,000m speed skating.
At 5.05pm, Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds go for Great Britain in the semi-final of the mixed doubles curling – they’re heavy favourites – then we’ve more luge, some ski jumping and figure skating, before the medal run of the women’s big air snowboarding, featuring the 19-year-old Brit Mia Brookes – who has a serious hope of a medal after saving herself following a fall, nailing her second and third efforts to qualify.
“I listened to Metallica. Megadeth. Pantera, Judas Priest, stuff like that,” she explained. “It came out of me in an athlete way.”
Esattamente! Andiamo!
