Isabel Atkin

Isabel Atkin
Personal information
NationalityAmerican, British
Born (1998-06-21) 21 June 1998 (age 26)
Boston, Massachusetts, US[1]
Height1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight66 kg (146 lb)
Sport
CountryGreat Britain
SportFreestyle skiing
Event(s)Slopestyle, Big air
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Women's freestyle skiing
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Pyeongchang Slopestyle
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Sierra Nevada Slopestyle
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Utah Big air
Winter X Games
Silver medal – second place 2018 Aspen Slopestyle
Silver medal – second place 2021 Aspen Slopestyle

Isabel Atkin (born 21 June 1998)[1] is a British-American freestyle skier who competes internationally for Great Britain.[2] She won bronze in women's slopestyle at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the first British Olympic medal in skiing.

Early life

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Atkin was born in Boston, United States to English father Mike and Malaysian mother Winnie. She has a younger sister Zoe Atkin[3] who is also a freestyle skier.[4][5] She started learning to ski on Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine when she was three.[6] In order to help with her skiing, her family moved to Park City, Utah when she was 14 to attend the Winter Sports School whose academic calendar runs from April to November so that she may ski in the winter.[7] She enrolled at Colorado College in 2017, graduating in 2022.[8]

Career

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Atkin has dual British and US nationality, but joined the GB Park & Pipe programme, and started competing for Great Britain when she was 15 during the 2013–2014 season.[9][10]

In 2017, she competed in the ski slopestyle World Cup competition at Silvaplana, and became the first British woman to win a World Cup event in ski slopestyle.[6] She competed at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2017 in Sierra Nevada, Spain, where she won bronze in slopestyle.[6] At the 2017 Dew Tour in Breckenridge, Colorado, Atkin qualified to the slopestyle final in second place but finished in fifth place in the final.[11][12] In January 2018, she won bronze at the ski slopestyle World Cup held in Aspen Snowmass, Colorado.[13]

At the 2019 World Championships, Atkin took bronze in the big air event, while the slopestyle event was cancelled.[14][15] Atkin took silver in the slopestyle event at the 2021 Winter X Games despite crashing on her fourth run and being taken to Aspen Valley Hospital. Atkin confirmed she had suffered a concussion from the crash. Atkin also competed in the big air event, finishing in sixth place.[16][17]

Winter Olympics

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At the 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Pyeongchang, South Korea, she scored 84.60 points in her final run to win the bronze medal in slopestyle. Her win is considered Great Britain's first medal won by a skier at the Olympics – the previous British skier Alain Baxter was stripped of his bronze medal in the slalom at the 2002 Winter Olympics after testing positive in a drug test.[18]

Atkin qualified to the Olympics again in the slopestyle and big air events for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. However, Atkin had broken her pelvis seven weeks prior to the start of the games, and despite intending to compete and flying to Beijing, on 30 January 2022 she announced that she would withdraw from the big air event. Atkin mentioned that she returned to skiing six weeks after her injury and hoped to still compete in the slopestyle event later in the week.[19] Despite this, on 11 February 2022, one day before the qualifying event, she announced that she would withdraw from slopestyle as well to allow for rehabilitation from her injury.[20][21]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Isabel Atkin – British Ski and Snowboard". www.teambss.org.uk. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  2. ^ Isabel Atkin at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation
  3. ^ McGeehan, Matt (17 February 2018). "Who is Izzy Atkin? Everything you need to know about Great Britain's first Olympic medal-winning skier". The Independent.
  4. ^ Izzie Atkin: The US-born Team GB star who grew up on Marmite and Ribena, Matt McGeehan, Evening Standard, 17 February 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2022
  5. ^ Izzy and Zoe Atkin interview: Qualifying for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing would be a dream, Eurosport, 4 February 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2022
  6. ^ a b c Bell, Graham (15 January 2018). "Meet freestyle skier Izzy Atkin, one of Britain's best Winter Olympic medal hopes". The Daily Telegraph.
  7. ^ Ingle, Sean (17 February 2018). "Stoked' Izzy Atkin becomes Britain's first Olympic medal-winning skier". The Guardian.
  8. ^ Forster, Liz (17 February 2018). "Colorado College freshman becomes Britain's first Olympic medal-winning skier". The Gazette.
  9. ^ "GB Park and Pipe's Izzy Atkin: One Year to Go to PyeongChang 2018 #1YTG". British Ski + Snowboard. 9 February 2017.
  10. ^ Laker, Laurie (9 February 2018). "CC's Izzy Atkin '21 Wins Bronze at the Olympics". Colorado College.
  11. ^ "Tess Ledeux Comes Out on Top with Stiff Competition in the Women's Ski Slopestyle Qualifiers". Dew Tour. 16 December 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  12. ^ "Johanne Killi, Tess Ledeux, and Sarah Hoefflin Podium in Women's Ski Slopestyle". Dew Tour. 17 December 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  13. ^ "Winter Olympics 2018: Izzy Atkin stars but Lindsey Vonn struggles". BBC Sports. 15 January 2018.
  14. ^ "Ladies' slopestyle Utah 2019 World Champs event cancelled". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  15. ^ Women's ski big air results
  16. ^ "X Games: Izzy Atkin wins ski slopestyle silver". BBC Sport. 31 January 2021.
  17. ^ Coryell, Olivia (30 January 2021). "X Games Aspen 2021 Day Two News and Results". ESPN.
  18. ^ Bloom, Ben (17 February 2018). "Izzy Atkin wins Britain's first ever skiing Winter Olympics medal". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  19. ^ "Atkin withdraws from Beijing big air". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  20. ^ "Atkin withdraws from Beijing slopestyle". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  21. ^ Gunston, Jo (13 February 2022). "Siblings Izzy and Zoe Atkin set for realisation of childhood dream". Olympics.
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