Winter Olympics 2022 - Zoe Atkin: Team GB star savours ‘amazing’ debut after finishing ninth in halfpipe final

Zoe Atkin is taking the positives from her overall Olympic debut despite struggling to replicate her qualifying form in Friday’s halfpipe final. The 19-year-old Briton finished ninth in the halfpipe as Eileen Gu stormed to a second gold of these Winter Olympics.

Ad/> Atkin was unable to put together a clean run in her first two attempts, losing a ski on both occasions. /> Beijing 2022Gu celebrates with rivals after ‘setting benchmark’ to win goldAN HOUR AGO However, a final run 73.25 was enough to place ninth out of the 12 finalists.

It was a case of what might have been for Atkin, having won bronze in the world championships last year and recording an 86.75 in qualifying on Thursday, but she admitted she lacked the speed capable of troubling the podium. «I had some speed issues which led to me not being able to do some tricks I wanted to do.

I’m glad I put one run down because I fell on my first two,” Atkin told BBC Sport afterwards. Golden Gu makes history after ‘dominating’ halfpipe final in Beijing, GB’s Atkin ninth Favourite Gu tops halfpipe qualification as GB’s Atkin reaches final in fourth »To be able to ski in the Olympic is an amazing opportunity and I was really glad to make it to the finals and make it this far on my Olympic debut.

«I definitely wanted to land a good, clean run that was a bit bigger with some harder tricks but unfortunately I didn’t have the speed.» Gu topped the standings with 95.25, while defending champion Cassie Sharpe claimed silver with a 90.75 to finish ahead of compatriot Rachael Karker, whose 87.75 just 0.75 points more than Kelly Sildaru in fourth. -- Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+ Beijing 2022Golden Gu makes history after ‘dominating’ halfpipe