Profile and significance
Kirsty Muir is a Scottish freeski slopestyle and big air specialist from Aberdeen who has become one of the central figures in the new era of women’s park skiing. Born on 5 May 2004 and raised riding the dryslope at the Adventure Aberdeen Snowsports Centre, she has turned an unconventional home hill into a launchpad for World Cup victories, X Games medals and Olympic finals. Representing Great Britain, she broke through with Youth Olympic silver in big air at Lausanne 2020, followed it with a World Cup podium at Aspen in 2021, then made both finals at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, finishing fifth in big air and eighth in slopestyle. By her late teens, she was already a double X Games bronze medallist, and in 2025 she claimed her first World Cup slopestyle win in Tignes, confirming that she is not just a prodigy but a genuine title contender heading toward Milano Cortina 2026.
Muir’s rise has been recognised well beyond contest scoreboards. She has been described as a “once-in-a-generation” British freestyle talent, received the Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture for her impact on snowsports, and joined the roster of Red Bull athletes as one of the brand’s key freeski prospects. With a competition record that already includes Youth Olympic, World Cup and X Games podiums plus top-six finishes at World Championships and the Olympics, she now stands as one of Team GB’s brightest hopes for a future Olympic medal in park and pipe skiing.
Competitive arc and key venues
Muir’s story starts on plastic rather than snow. She first clipped into skis at around three years old on the dryslope at the Adventure Aberdeen Snowsports Centre, initially in alpine racing programmes before gravitating toward freestyle sessions. By her early teens she was dominating age-group events in Britain; at the 2018 BRITS in Laax she swept all three freeski titles—big air, slopestyle and halfpipe—against older competition, and at the British Championships that same year she won big air, halfpipe and slopestyle again. Junior World Championships in Cardrona and Kläppen brought further confirmation, with podiums in both slopestyle and big air.
The first major global milestone came at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne. There, Muir won silver in women’s freeski big air and finished fourth in slopestyle, then carried the Union Jack as Team GB’s flagbearer at the closing ceremony. Within a year she was on the senior World Cup tour; in March 2021 she took second place in slopestyle at Aspen in only her fourth senior event, landing a left double cork 1260 mute on the final jump to secure her first World Cup podium. That result confirmed that her junior dominance could translate directly into elite-level success.
Beijing 2022 elevated her profile again. At 17, she was the youngest Briton on Team GB and qualified comfortably for both big air and slopestyle finals. In big air she reached third place after her opening run and ultimately finished fifth, while in slopestyle she ended eighth, making her one of the few athletes to make both finals in a stacked field. The following year, she stepped onto the X Games stage in Aspen and delivered bronze medals in both women’s ski big air and slopestyle, becoming the first British woman to medal in those disciplines and underlining her status as a true multi-format threat.
The 2023–24 season mixed career highs with serious adversity. On the FIS World Cup circuit she claimed multiple big air podiums, including second place at the Beijing big air event held on the same tower she had ridden at the Olympics, and third at Copper Mountain. In December 2023, however, she tore her ACL and damaged her meniscus during a big air final, remarkably still finishing on the podium before scans revealed the full extent of the injury. Knee surgery in early 2024 and subsequent shoulder surgery removed her from competition for more than a year.
Muir’s comeback in 2025 quickly became one of the defining stories of the season. Returning to World Cup competition in January, she was back in finals almost immediately. In March she claimed her first World Cup win, topping the women’s slopestyle field in Tignes with a composed first run that held up against all challengers. That victory, combined with her previous X Games and Olympic results, has made her one of the clear favourites in slopestyle and big air as the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic cycle gathers pace.
How they ski: what to watch for
Kirsty Muir’s skiing is built around a rare combination of big-jump fearlessness, technical variety and smooth execution. On slopestyle courses, she tends to construct runs that are strong from the rails all the way through the jumps. Rail sections feature switch entries, frontside and backside spin-outs, and technical touches like disaster transfers or gap-to-rail moves that display precision without becoming hectic. She uses these sections to set a rhythm and carry speed, rather than treating them as filler before the jump line.
On jumps, Muir is best known for her ability to spin both ways with high rotation counts while still holding clear, visible grabs. Her left double cork 1260 mute from the Aspen World Cup podium run remains a hallmark trick, but she is also comfortable with switch and forward 900s, 1080s and 1260s in multiple directions. The key for viewers is how “quiet” her skiing looks for tricks of that difficulty: she sets rotation early off the lip, locks in the grab, and allows her lower body to spin around a stable upper body position. Landings are usually absorbed deep and centred, with minimal chatter, even on firm World Cup landings.
Another distinctive aspect of her skiing is decision-making under pressure. Judges and commentators often highlight the way she adapts to speed or weather changes mid-competition. If conditions make a planned 1440 unrealistic, she will often step down to a slightly simpler trick but execute it perfectly with a long, tweaked grab rather than forcing a rushed rotation. That ability to adjust without losing her line or style is a major reason why she consistently qualifies for finals and converts runs when it matters most.
Resilience, filming, and influence
Resilience is at the heart of Muir’s narrative. Long before the 2023 ACL tear, she had already spent years balancing elite sport with schoolwork and the realities of growing up far from alpine resorts. The Beijing Olympics happened while she was still studying for exams; between training and competition, she squeezed in revision sessions and went home to sit her prelims, eventually earning top grades. That combination of academic commitment and top-five Olympic results at 17 defined her for many British fans as much as any single trick.
The injury run from late 2023 into 2024 was a heavier test. An ACL and meniscus tear followed by shoulder surgery meant months of rehabilitation, gym work and mental reset. In interviews she has spoken candidly about crying when she first got the diagnosis, doubting whether she would return to the same level and then gradually rebuilding confidence through structured goals and repetition. The fact that she came back to win her first World Cup only a year after surgery has turned her into a case study in how to handle long-term setbacks in high-impact sports.
While she is still primarily a competition-focused skier rather than a full-time film rider, Muir’s influence already stretches beyond start lists. She features in edits and content from partners like Red Bull, has appeared at showcase events such as Red Bull Playstreets and The Nines, and has fronted magazine covers and interviews that present her as both an elite athlete and a relatable young Scot who still loves lapping her home dryslope. For young riders—especially girls from non-alpine countries—her story provides a powerful example of what is possible with persistence, family support and access to local facilities.
Geography that built the toolkit
Muir’s foundation was laid on the dryslope at Adventure Aberdeen Snowsports in Garthdee, a plastic surface far removed from classic Alpine imagery. There she learned to ski in all weather, navigating abrasive mats rather than soft snow, and has often said that if you can ski there—dodging the heather, fences and rocks on nearby Scottish hills—you can ski anywhere. The combination of dryslope repetition and occasional Scottish mountain days gave her an unusually robust sense of balance and edge control that still shows in her riding.
As her career progressed, her geographic world expanded rapidly. She has spent significant time at high-profile European snowparks, notably Absolut Park in Austria, where she is part of the resort’s freeski team and regularly trains on long, progressive jump lines and dense rail setups. Swiss venues like Laax and the World Championships courses in Aspen and Bakuriani have added experience in big-event settings, while repeated trips to Olympic sites in Beijing and major North American destinations such as Copper Mountain and Mammoth have helped her adapt to scaffolding big airs and high-altitude conditions. Despite this global schedule, she frequently returns to Aberdeen to coach, lap freestyle nights and reconnect with the community that helped launch her career.
Equipment and partners: practical takeaways
Kirsty Muir’s equipment choices are closely tied to her role as a park and big air specialist. She rides for Völkl, using modern twin-tip skis designed for stability on large jumps and precise performance on rails. Her bindings come from Marker and boots from Dalbello, a combination that prioritises consistent flex and secure retention when spinning doubles and landing from height. For eye protection, she works with Blenders Eyewear, and her outerwear and streetwear are supplied by rider-owned British brand Planks Clothing, whose “Good Times” series is often visible in her contest and training edits.
Beyond hardware and softgoods, Muir’s partnerships extend to places as well as products. As a member of the Absolut Park freeski team, she has a strong link to one of Europe’s leading snowparks, and her relationship with Red Bull provides performance support, media platforms and access to specialist camps. For progressing skiers, the lesson from her setup is less about copying exact brands and more about coherence: a well-tuned park ski, boots that fit precisely, bindings you trust and outerwear suited to long, cold days on the hill all create the foundation needed to focus on progression rather than gear problems.
Why fans and progressing skiers care
Fans care about Kirsty Muir because she represents both the present and the future of women’s slopestyle and big air. She has already delivered Youth Olympic silver, a World Cup win, multiple World Cup podiums, double X Games bronze and top-eight Olympic finishes, all while coming from a non-alpine city and juggling school with elite sport. Her runs combine serious technical difficulty with clear style and smart tactics, making her one of the most watchable riders in any field she enters.
For progressing skiers, especially those who do not live in big mountain regions, her path is particularly inspiring. Starting on a dryslope, building skills through local clubs, stepping up to British Championships, then to Europa Cups, Youth Olympics, World Cups, X Games and the Olympic Games, she has followed a clear, step-by-step pathway rather than a sudden leap. Watching her carefully—how she spins both ways, how she treats grab quality as non-negotiable, and how she adjusts trick choice to conditions without panicking—offers a blueprint for sustainable progression. As she targets Milano Cortina 2026 with renewed confidence after injury, Kirsty Muir stands as one of the key athletes shaping what is possible in modern freeski slopestyle and big air.
