Whitefish's Maggie Voisin 4th in Olympics slopestyle
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Maggie Voisin completed her journey back to the Olympics but will come home without hardware to show for it.
After barely surviving a dramatic qualifying round, Voisin, a Whitefish native who honed her skills on the Big Mountain terrain park, narrowly missed the podium in women’s slopestyle skiing on Saturday morning at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
After falls on her first two runs, Voisin’s third and final attempt, which scored 81.2, vaulted her into bronze medal position. But Great Britain’s Isabel Atkin put down an 84.6 on her third run to bump Voisin to fourth.
Voisin’s Olympic debut comes four years after she became the youngest American to qualify for the Winter Olympics since 1972 but was unable to compete in the 2014 Games due to a fractured ankle suffered during a training run on the day of opening ceremonies in Sochi, Russia.
A favorite to medal, Voisin entered the Olympics second in the AFP (Association Of Freeskiing Professionals) women’s slopestyle world rankings behind Norway’s Johanne Killi.
Voisin survived the closest of calls in the qualifying round, snagging the 12th and final spot in the finals with a score of 73.
She edged South Korea’s Lee Meehyun, the final woman to qualify, as Meehyun was awarded a 72.8 after extended deliberation from the judges.