Olympics women’s freeski slopestyle finals medal results, highlights
By Zach Bigalke
Switzerland took gold and silver in the women’s freestyle skiing slopestyle at the Winter Olympics. Here’s how everything went down at Phoenix Park.
Slopestyle is one of the two newest Olympic freestyle skiing disciplines. Along with the halfpipe, slopestyle debuted four years ago in Sochi. There, Canada’s Dara Howell beat Devin Logan of the United States for the gold. Another Canadian, Kim Lamarre, took the bronze.
The two North American powerhouse teams, however, failed to put a single skier on the podium this year. Maggie Voisin was the top American, finishing just off the podium in fourth. Canada fell even further, with Yuki Tsubota finishing sixth.
This time around, the slopestyle was dominated by Swiss skiers. Sarah Hoefflin came into the 2018 Winter Olympics as the reigning Winter X Games champion in women’s big air. She rebounded from a crash on her second run to claim Olympic gold at Phoenix Park in Pyeongchang ahead of fellow Swiss star Mathilde Grimaud.
MEDAL RESULT | Freestyle skiing women's slopestyle
Sarah Hoefflin
Mathilde Grimaud
Isabel Atkin
After the first run in the women’s slopestyle finals, Grimaud led the way with an 88.00 round. Hoefflin was right behind with an 83.80 score. In the second round, the Swiss duo remained in the lead. Both Hoefflin and Grimaud struggled in the round, but nobody managed to get to 80 points in the round.
In the final round to decide medals, Hoefflin passed Grimaud for the gold with a 91.20 run that proved the only round with a score above 90 points. Hoefflin snatched away gold from her compatriot, but the duo still managed to crush the field.
When Maggie Voisin put up an 81.20 mark, it appeared good enough to reach the podium. But there was always danger in the situation since Voisin was the first skier to take her final run.
Eight skiers later, Great Britain’s Isabel Atkin knocked Voisin off the podium. Atkin had steadily improved through the rounds, going from 68 points to 79 points from the first jump to the second. She improved even further, eclipsing Voisin’s bronze mark with an 84.60 score.
Four years after North American skiers swept the inaugural slopestyle, European skiers got their turn in the sophomore edition. Norway’s Johanne Killi completed the top five, further cementing Europe’s place as the current leader in Olympic slopestyle on the men’s side.
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