British Slopestyle Delivers More Top 10s At World Juniors

Kirsty Muir and Connie Brogden had to endure two days of postponements to their ski slopestyle competition at the World Junior Championships in New Zealand, however the pair did themselves proud with solid performances today.

Muir (7th) and Brogden (8th) did enough in their two-run heat to qualify inside the top half of the field and earn a place in Friday afternoon’s final.

The British pair could not improve on their qualification positions in the three-run final but walk away with top 10 results to their names. For Muir, it was her second top 10 of the week after finishing fourth in big air.

Great Britain now has seven top 10 results in Cardrona including two medals in ski cross.

Yesterday heats took place in male ski slopestyle qualifying however none of the British quartet were successful in moving through to today’s final with Jasper Klein (21st) and Tom Greenway (22nd) finishing with the best results.

Preview: Ski Halfpipe

The final British assault on this year’s World Juniors will start on Saturday with qualifiers for ski halfpipe with three females and two males in action.

The event was originally scheduled for Sunday, but with weather already playing a major role in the Championships so far, organisers have moved the competition forward by a day.

Brogden, 16, and Muir, 14, return after today’s female slopestyle and the pair will be joined by Zoe Atkin, 15.

Muir is the reigning British halfpipe champion where Brogden was just one step down the podium in second. Atkin has never finished outside the top five in senior halfpipe competition, including a Nor-Am Cup podium at Copper Mountain in December.

The trio all competed in the Australia-New Zealand Cup halfpipe competition at Cardrona two weeks ago where Atkin claimed victory with Muir (3rd) and Brogden (7th) also putting in strong performances.

The British skiers taking to the male qualifiers are 18-year-olds Sam Ward and Sam Gaskin.

The pair go into the event with strong form after Ward – like Atkin – won the Australia-New Zealand Cup event in Cardrona two weeks ago ahead of a PyeongChang Olympian in second with Gaskin – like Muir – narrowly behind in third.

Ward already has a top 20 result from World Juniors after finishing 15th in big air, however this will be Gaskin’s only event of the Championships. The pair predominantly compete in North America with both earning strong Nor-Am Cup results last season, while Ward also made his first Europa Cup and World Cup appearances too.

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