Sarah Hoefflin wins Olympic Women’s Ski Slopestyle

Swiss skiers pulled off an upset victory today at the 2018 Olympic Women’s Ski Slopestyle event at Phoenix Snow Park, South Korea. Sarah Höfflin landed a perfect switch double cork 900 on her final run to edge out her teammate Mathilde Gremaud—who landed her own double in her first run—for the gold.

It’s a totally unexpected gold-and-silver party for the Swiss, with Great Britain’s Isabel Atkin edging out American Maggie Voisin for the bronze, to complete a women’s slopestyle podium that no one saw coming.

After a qualifying round that saw a large variety of landed runs, many of the competitors succumbed to pressure in the finals. Of the top qualifiers Emma Dahlström, Johanne Killi and Tiril S. Christiansen, only Killi managed to put down a clean finals run, good enough for fifth place.

Höfflin’s gold medal run (91.2)
-Down rail, backside 270 out
-Down-flat-down, switch disaster to forward
-Flat rail, backside 270 out
-Left 360 mute
-Right 540 mute
-Switch right 720 mute
-Switch left double cork 900

Sarah Höfflin's winning run.

Mathilde Gremaud held the lead for much of the contest after stomping her own massive switch double, a 1080, for a score of 88.

Gremaud’s silver medal run (88.00):
-Down rail, front switch-up, frontside 270 out
-Down-flat-down, switch disaster to forward
-Down rail, grab to forward
-Left 360 tail
-Left 720 tail
-Right rodeo 900 safety
-Sw left double cork 1080 safety (Huge!)

Meanwhile, Park City local Isabel Atkin—skiing for Great Britain—knocked American heavyweight Maggie Voisin out of the bronze-medal spot with a hammer run of her own.

Atkins’ bronze medal run (84.6):
Down rail, front 450 out
Air to hip, rail to forward
Down rail, lipslide disaster to forward
Right layback 360 safety
Left 720 safety
Right 900 tail
Switch right 900 tail