The women's ski slopestyle of Freestyle Skiing 2018 during the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 17 February 2018 in the Phoenix Snow Park. With 23 athletes competing, the event was won by Sarah Hoefflin from Switzerland, with Mathilde Gremaud from Switzerland taking the silver medal and Isabel Atkin from Great Britain taking bronze.
Format[]
The competition exists out of two phases. The qualification phase exists out of two performances by each athlete. The twelve highest scores of the qualification qualify for the final. In the final, each participant performs three times. The best run in the final is counted. The competitor with the highest score in the final is the winner.
Preview[]
Twenty-three athletes qualified for the event, and it seemed to become a battle between Sweden and Norway, with Jennie-Lee Burmansson, Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen, and Johanne Killi as the highest three seeds, although the competition was still very open. Sarah Hoefflin, Tess Ledeux, Isabel Atkin, and Maggie Voisin also proved very strong in the Olympic qualification, and with the reigning medalists Dara Howell, Devin Logan, and Kim Lamarre also competing, any mistake could prove costly.
Jennie-Lee Burmansson was the youngest competitor, leading the charge of seven skiers born after 1 January 2000. On the other hand, Kim Lamarre was the only competitor born in the 1980s, around three years before Sarah Hoefflin and Kea Kuhnel. Only seven athletes had prior Olympic experience, including the three reigning medalists, Emma Dahlstrom, Yuki Tsubota, and Katie Summerhayes, who finished fifth, sixth, and seventh, respectively.
Summary[]
Qualification[]
Sarah Hoefflin was the first one to go, and despite her late career start, she took the momentum of winning a gold medal at the X-Games with her to a very great first run of the qualification. With a lot of safe runs, the score of Hoefflin wouldn't be beaten until Johanne Killi in the second half of the first run. With only five other skiers scoring above 70 points in the remainder of the first run, including a top performance by Emma Dahlstrom, most competitors would be looking for their second run to grab a place in the final. After the first run, Dahlstrom was on top, with Killi behind her. Only Mathilde Gremaud and Devin Logan were also able to score high, surpassing Hoefflin in the top 5, with Katie Summerhayes and Maggie Voisin following above 70 points, with the provisional score to reach the final set on a mere 46.80 by Lee Mee-hyun.
For the second run, most of the skiers with a low score were poised to perform and qualify for the final, while the skiers who seemed to qualify were aiming to get a high score for a bigger advantage in the final. Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen was one of these competitors, bouncing back from a mediocre score in the first run to get the second-highest score of the day, a feat not followed by the bronze medalist of Sochi Kim Lamarre, who failed to qualify. Another Canadian in Yuki Tsubota did outperform her first run with a score nearing 80 points. Kea Kuehnel was the first skier to challenge Lee for a place in the final, scoring 59.60, a provisional eleventh place, with Lana Prusakova following her with a score of above 70, as well. The higher scores followed each other rapidly, with Darian Stevens, Jennie-Lee Burmansson, Anastasia Tatalina, and Isabel Atkin having solid performances with scores above 60 points. Dara Howell, the reigning Olympic champion, failed to take her last chance, leaving two of the previous medalists failing to qualify for the final.
| Qualification Results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Nat. | Name | Run 1 | Run 2 | |
| 1 |  |
Emma Dahlstrom | 91.40 | 57.60 | |
| 2 |  |
Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen | 55.80 | 89.00 | |
| 3 | |
Johanne Killi | 87.80 | 64.20 | |
| 4 |  |
Isabel Atkin | 13.20 | 86.80 | |
| 5 |  |
Mathilde Gremaud | 85.40 | 71.60 | |
| 6 |  |
Devin Logan | 84.80 | 37.60 | |
| 7 | |
Sarah Hoefflin | 83.00 | 21.20 | |
| 8 |  |
Anastasia Tatalina | 27.40 | 81.00 | |
| 9 |  |
Yuki Tsubota | 65.40 | 78.20 | |
| 10 | |
Katie Summerhayes | 75.80 | 77.60 | |
| 11 | |
Jennie-Lee Burmansson | 17.40 | 77.00 | |
| 12 | |
Maggie Voisin | 72.80 | 73.00 | |
| 13 |  |
Lee Mee-hyun | 46.80 | 72.80 | |
| 14 | |
Lana Prusakova | 42.20 | 70.60 | |
| 15 |  |
Tess Ledeux | 69.40 | 28.40 | |
| 16 |  |
Lara Wolf | 10.20 | 66.40 | |
| 17 | |
Darian Stevens | 8.20 | 64.00 | |
| 18 |  |
Kea Kuehnel | 19.40 | 59.60 | |
| 19 | |
Lou Barin | 50.60 | 38.40 | |
| 20 |  |
Dominique Ohaco | 16.00 | 38.60 | |
| 21 | |
Dara Howell | 12.80 | 32.00 | |
| 22 | |
Kim Lamarre | 22.80 | 23.60 | |
| 23 | |
Caroline Claire | 20.00 | 16.40 | |
Final[]
With twelve competitors in the final, and a lot of pre-event favorites failing to qualify, the result of the final was very much in the open. Maggie Voisin was one of the possible medal contenders with a disappointing qualification, and a crash in her first run didn't help either. The same story was also the case for world number one Jennie-Lee Burmansson, who made a mistake in one of her jumps. Katie Summerhayes was the first skier to at least get a solid score in the final, quickly followed by Yuki Tsubota with the first score above 70 points, and Sarah Hoefflin with the first score above 80 points. In the second half of the first run, Mathilde Gremaud was the first skier to improve on her scores in the qualification, nearing 90 points, to set a serious benchmark in the race for gold. Both Johanne Killi and Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen, ranked second and third in the world, crashed after the first rail, and were not able to set a good first run. This meant that the Swiss Gremaud and Hoefflin were the top skiers after the first run, followed by Tsubota and the British Atkin and Summerhayes, as the only five skiers with scores above 50 points.
In the second run of the final, a lot of skiers were able to improve their scores, including Voisin, Burmansson, Summerhayes, and Anastasia Tatalina in the first half. Summerhayes was able to nest herself in the provisional top 5, but there was still plenty of action to go. Despite the second of the second run of the final almost only seeing improvements, the lead was still held by Gremaud, still followed by Hoefflin. However, now followed by Atkin and Killi as the scores above 75 points. Tsubota remained in the top 5, with Summerhayes also scoring 70-plus.
The third run was an ultimate chance for a medal or a last chance for redemption. Voisin, one of the pre-event medal contenders, was the first to prove this, with a score of 81.20, setting herself on the third place, behind the two Swiss skiers. However, after her, Burmansson, Summerhayes, Tsubota, and Tatalina were not able to set high scores, and would not be in contention for a medal anymore. Hoefflin, as the first one of the provisional medalists, had an exceptional performance, with the first score in the final of above 90 points, overtaking her countrywoman Gremaud for gold, with six skiers left to go. Devin Logan, as the only medalists of Sochi to qualify for the final, crashed early on, disappointing with a provisional tenth place in the final. Mathilde Gremaud, the one who had just been overtaken by her compatriot Hoefflin, also crashed in an ultimate attempt to regain top spot and would remain in second. On the other hand, Isabel Atkin, who had been overtaken by Maggie Voisin early in the third run, was able to deliver for an improvement in her score, settling back in third place with only three competitors left to go. Unfortunately, the top three qualifiers Killi, Christiansen, and Dahlstrom were not able to set high scores, leaving the Swiss competitors Hoefflin and Gremaud with gold and silver, with Atkin taking the bronze medal as the first British medal in skiing at the Winter Olympic Games.
| Final Results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Nat. | Name | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 |
| 1 | |
Sarah Hoefflin | 83.80 | 27.80 | 91.20 |
| 2 | |
Mathilde Gremaud | 88.00 | 29.40 | 29.40 |
| 3 | |
Isabel Atkin | 68.40 | 79.40 | 84.60 |
| 4 | |
Maggie Voisin | 26.40 | 37.60 | 81.20 |
| 5 | |
Johanne Killi | 10.20 | 76.80 | 54.40 |
| 6 | |
Yuki Tsubota | 74.40 | 26.40 | 40.40 |
| 7 | |
Katie Summerhayes | 61.40 | 71.40 | 23.20 |
| 8 | |
Jennie-Lee Burmansson | 42.00 | 65.00 | 24.40 |
| 9 | |
Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen | 5.20 | 24.00 | 60.40 |
| 10 | |
Devin Logan | 22.60 | 56.80 | 10.60 |
| 11 | |
Emma Dahlstrom | 16.60 | 52.40 | 15.40 |
| 12 | |
Anastasia Tatalina | 29.40 | 51.20 | 13.00 |
Results[]
In the very dynamic event, all three medalist won their first medal at their Olympic debut. Sarah Hoefflin and Mathilde Gremaud made it a Swiss top 2, with Isabel Atkin winning the first medal in freestyle skiing for Great Britain. Maggie Voisin and Johanne Killi, who completed the top 5, also made their first Olympic appearances, with Yuki Tsubota behind them the highest-ranked athlete with prior Olympic experience. Both Tsubota and Katie Summerhayes equalled their result of Sochi 2014.
| Result | Athlete | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
 |
Sarah Hoefflin | Switzerland |
 |
Mathilde Gremaud | Switzerland |
 |
Isabel Atkin | Great Britain |
| 4 | Maggie Voisin | United States |
| 5 | Johanne Killi | Norway |
| 6 | Yuki Tsubota | Canada |
| 7 | Katie Summerhayes | Great Britain |
| 8 | Jennie-Lee Burmansson | Sweden |
| 9 | Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen | Norway |
| 10 | Devin Logan | United States |
| 11 | Emma Dahlstrom | Sweden |
| 12 | Anastasia Tatalina | Olympic Athletes from Russia |
| 13 | Lee Mee-hyun | South Korea |
| 14 | Lana Prusakova | Olympic Athletes from Russia |
| 15 | Tess Ledeux | France |
| 16 | Lara Wolf | Austria |
| 17 | Darian Stevens | United States |
| 18 | Kea Kuehnel | Germany |
| 19 | Lou Barin | France |
| 20 | Dominique Ohaco | Chile |
| 21 | Dara Howell | Canada |
| 22 | Kim Lamarre | Canada |
| 23 | Caroline Claire | United States |
| 2018 Winter Olympic Games | |
|---|---|
| Freestyle Skiing 2018 | |
| ← 2014 | 2022 → |
| Men | Women |
| Moguls | Moguls |
| Aerials | Aerials |
| Ski Cross | Ski Cross |
| Ski Halfpipe | Ski Halfpipe |
| Ski Slopestyle | Ski Slopestyle |