Proud dad of Kirsty Muir says 'nobody could have asked more of her'

The proud dad of skier Kirsty Muir has said “nobody could have asked more of her”, after she qualified for the women’s big air final of the Winter Olympics.

Kirsty, 17, is the youngest member of the 50-strong Team GB squad.

On the outskirts of Beijing, the teenager from Aberdeen nailed her first jump with a score of 89.25.

She looked nerveless as she landed all three of her leaps, the best two of which are added to determine the final ranking.

Her final tally of 157.50 left her less than six points adrift of third-placed Anastasia Tatalina of Russia.

Muir said she was especially pleased to have landed a trick called a ‘dub 12’, which includes two flips, one and half degrees of rotation and a ski-grab.

Speaking to STV News, beaming dad Jim praised Kirsty and spoke of her determination to reach the podium.

“It was great, I mean… Kirsty will surprise you every time,” he said.

“She was just so up for it and so determined to try and get on the podium.

“And that last jump, she’d never done that trick before in competition, [and was] so close to landing it.

“It was just great, really good. Nobody could have asked more of her.”

Jim said that the “future’s bright”, as he pointed to the evolution of the sport.

He said: “It’s an evolving sport, the level of the tricks is just going up and up, and they’re all prepared to push it.

“And obviously that jump was just ideal for them, they were all really enjoying the conditions.

“So, yeah, I just hope she gets enough training in… the future’s bright.”

Jim has been isolating due to coronavirus, but was still able to enjoy Kirsty’s achievements with family.

He told STV News: “We were all in different rooms because we were isolating but we were all pretty happy and pretty high really.

“I mean, you could tell it was going to be a tense final.

“I have to be honest, I was kind of half thinking, ‘save yourself for slope stuff Kirsty’.

“But, oh no, she was going to go for it and she did.”

He added: “You’re obviously a little bit nervous, but you get over that, you’ve just got to trust them and enjoy the moment for them as well.”

Jim said that Kirsty is looking ahead to a well-deserved dinner with her schools friends when she returns to Scotland.

“Very briefly, she’s very, very happy, really pleased with herself,” he said.

“She’s packing right now to go back up to the mountains where the slope style is. She was really enjoying Beijing, she was enjoying the relative warmth. It’s pretty cold where they’re going, up to -35 I think where they’re going.

“So, she’s in very good form. A couple of her pals, her school pals, have said they’ll take her out for dinner when she’s back, so she was pleased with that.”