Muir and Tabanelli move on from Milano Cortina 2026 with Tignes Freeski Slopestyle victories
Mar 19, 2026·Freeski Park & Pipe:format(webp))
Great Britain’s Kirsty Muir put her fourth-place finish at Milano Cortina 2026 behind her with an emphatic victory at the Freeski Slopestyle World Cup in Tignes (FRA) on Thursday.
In the men’s field, Miro Tabanelli (ITA) claimed victory ahead of men’s Olympic champion Birk Ruud (NOR).
Muir was the top athlete from the morning qualification session on Thursday in Tignes, and she kept her streak of strong performances at the French resort rolling right along into finals, putting down her best run of the day in her first attempt.
The judges awarded the 21-year-old Scottish skier 82.78 for her winning run, which began with a switch left bio 900 tail grab, then a right double cork 1080 safety, a left 270 on continuing 270 off, a switch right lipslide to forward, a right slide to frontside 450 leading safety on the cannon rail, before finishing with a left cork 900 tailgrab on the final jump.
Canada’s Elena Gaskell was runner-up on 76.60, while Austria’s Lara Wolf was third on 76.41 after she bettered her first-run score of 52.73, pushing U.S. skier Grace Henderson’s 71.58 into fourth place in the process.
Muir’s victory comes after the 21-year-old finished just outside of the Milano Cortina 2026 podium in fourth place in both Freeski Slopestyle and Freeski Big Air.
Thursday’s result is also Muir’s second Tignes victory after she claimed her maiden World Cup victory here at last year’s edition.
Muir also won the Freeski Slopestyle World Cup in Snowmass (USA) in January, her last World Cup event before Milano Cortina 2026. With two victories from two Freeski Slopestyle starts this season, Muir now leads the women’s standings on 200 points, with only next week’s Silvaplana season finale Slopestyle event left to go in the 2025/26 season.
Gaskell trails Muir on the Slopestyle standings by 15 points, with 185 points from three top-five finishes. The 24-year-old’s second-place on Thursday follows her fifth-place finish at the Laax Open and her third-place finish in Snowmass in January.
Muir also leads the overall women’s Freeski Park and Pipe standings on 379 points after the 21-year-old claimed her maiden Freeski Big Air World Cup victory in Secret Garden (CHN) in November, followed by fourth place in Beijing and ninth place in Steamboat (USA) in December.
Muir is also a favourite for the win in the Freeski Big Air final in Tignes on Friday 20 March, after she topped the women’s qualifications on Tuesday.
In the men’s Freeski Slopestyle final on Thursday, top qualifier Miro Tabanelli (ITA) also claimed victory based on his first-run score.
Judges awarded Tabanelli 83.31 for his switch right double cork 1440 mute, a switch left tail butter double bio 1260 safety, a left 630 on, a right slide frontswap to backside 450 out, then a switch left slide misty 630 double Japan, before capping it all off with a left double cork 1620 mute on the final kicker.
The 21-year-old Italian said he didn’t expect to win on Thursday.
“I’m shaking still,” said Tabanelli.
“I just stayed calm and just tried to do my best, for real, and it just happened.
“Practice didn’t go as well as I wanted it to be, but today I managed.
Trailing Tabanelli by just 0.23 of a point in second place was reigning World Champion and Milano Cortina 2026 Freeski Slopestyle gold medalist Birk Ruud (NOR) on 83.08.
Milano Cortina 2026 Freeski Halfpipe silver medalist Henry Sildaru (EST) was third behind Ruud on 81.76. Norway’s Sebastian Schjerve was fourth on 81.50.
Tabanelli’s victory on Thursday is the 21-year-old’s second career World Cup win in Tignes after he claimed his maiden victory here in 2025 in Freeski Big Air.
It also comes after Tabanelli made his Olympic Winter Games debut on home snow at Milano Cortina 2026 in February but failed to qualify for any finals.
With Thursday’s second-place finish and Ruud’s Laax Open victory in January, the Norwegian now leads the men’s Freeski Slopestyle standings on 180 points.
Team-mate Sebastian Schjerve is second behind Ruud on 145 points after Schjerve claimed his third consecutive top-five World Cup finish on Thursday to add to his fourth and fifth-place finishes at Laax and Snowmass respectively.
The Freeski Big Air finals will begin at 19:00 local time on Friday 20 March.
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