We spoke to Kirsty Muir just before she went out and won gold in the World Cup slopestyle final. We caught up with her in Tignes during the Mountain Shaker Festival, where she was preparing to take on the world’s best on one of the most challenging slopestyle courses of the season.
Image: Kirsty Muir Facebook
Can you sum up how this season’s been for you in terms of competition?
Yeah, I mean, I only just got back to competition in January because I got back to skis in November and then in the park in December after having knee and shoulder surgery.
So, yeah, this is my fourth competition back this week, fourth and fifth one, so just overall having a really good time, feeling really good on my skis again, which is super nice.
Yeah, managing to get to a few finals, which is sick as well.
Yeah, it’s pretty cool.
What about away from competition? Have you had much time to enjoy the snow and the conditions?
Yeah, I mean, it’s been quite busy, training and then straight back into competitions in January, but I’m really excited for once World Champs is over, then we can really get some spring skiing and have a really good time with the crew, so I’m excited for that. But for now, it’s just been competitions, which is also fun.
I still enjoy this.
Where do you go to chill out and just ski for yourself?
I really like Laax in Switzerland, that’s a good spot with a really nice park and fun shredding features.
The Nines is another one, but that can be chill some days and pretty heavy on others. There’s a really good jump there, so sometimes we try and send some big tricks.
Another one is Kimbo Sessions in Sweden—it’s just the most fun week. You ski from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. It’s super different to usual, just sunny and slushy, and it’s amazing. I’m excited for those events.
Do you ever get out of the park?
Not often, but sometimes I do like to rip around the mountain. Most of the time, we don’t really have time, and if we do, I kind of just want to go and shred the park.
Yeah, that’s where my passion is.
If there had been a day off here in Tignes, I would have gone skiing, but we don’t have a day off.
Are you ever tempted to strap on some thin skis and go back to your roots?
No, I don’t think I’d ever use piste skis.
I just use my freestyle ones and rip around the mountain on them.
Then I can go switch everywhere.
I asked my son, who’s in the freestyle club in Les Crosets, if he had a question for you. Obviously, as a 10-year-old boy, all he wants to know is—what’s your best trick?
Well, I’ve done it once at X Games, and it’s a dub 16.
That’s my best trick. I did it in the X Games competition and managed to get third with it, so it was pretty cool.
In terms of tricks, what are you working on at the moment? How do you keep up with this evolving bag of tricks that everyone is bringing to every event now?
Yeah, so at the moment, I’m building back my tricks from before knee surgery. The other day, I did my first dubs again, which was super sick. That was a really big step for me.
So now it’s just about building them up again and then working on new tricks during the summer, with hopes for next season to have some really good ones to push for.
How have you seen the progression from when you were young to now?
Yeah, I mean, especially in women’s freeskiing, the evolution of tricks has been incredible, especially over the last five years. Women are really pushing the boundaries, doing amazing tricks but also keeping it stylish, with cool grabs and making everything look super smooth.
The progression has been really quick, which I think is sick.
Have you got any tips on how to keep up with the action when watching a competition? How do you process what’s happening in real-time?
For us, it’s almost subconscious—we just know what tricks people are doing.
To break it down, you look at the amount of flips (single, double, triple) and the amount of rotation, which adds together to make the overall rotation.
So for a dub 14, it’s two flips and two spins. You can also tell by whether they land forward or switch, which helps identify the trick quickly.
But with take-offs, it can get complicated for viewers—there are so many different options like tail butters, nose butters, switch, forwards. It’s a lot to take in.
Can you remember what you won with in your first competition?
My first competition was at the dry slope in Aberdeen—it was called the Carpet Burn Cup.
The medal was literally a little circle of plastic slope with a ribbon on it, spray-painted gold, silver, or bronze.
They had a series of competitions—slopestyle, big air, rail comp, moguls, ski cross. The finals were on a tiny airbag, and I was battling another girl, throwing 180s. I came second and was pretty annoyed because I didn’t have the best 180!
Now that you’re at the top, who do you look to for inspiration and creativity?
There are so many girls I look up to and compete against, but I still find inspiration in them. I also get inspired by men’s skiing—there are so many cool, creative tricks that people are doing.
Even outside of competitions, watching ski films gives me a lot of inspiration.
Who do you get most starstruck by when competing? Or are you cool enough to ride that out now?
A few years ago, I was totally starstruck by Mathilde, Tess, and everyone, but now it’s nice—I feel like I’m part of it with them.
The freestyle ski community is one of the best—it’s so hyped and supportive.
We’re all super stoked for each other. In other disciplines like downhill racing, they all look really mad at each other, but we’re just like, “Sick!” when someone lands something cool.
We all want to do our best, but at the end of the day, we’re pushing the sport, and that’s what matters.
Last question—what’s your go-to song to get psyched before a run?
For the last two years, it’s been the same song—”The Pretender” by Foo Fighters.
During training, I’ll listen to whatever, but as soon as I’m in my competition runs, that’s the only song on repeat.
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