Winter Olympics: Katie Summerhayes delight but frustration for Katie Ormerod on slopes of Beijing

Sheffield free skier Summerhayes, 26, narrowly missed out on a place in the Big Air final last week when she finished 13th in qualifying, with only the top 12 progressing.

That left her with a frustrated watching brief, cheering on team-mate and friend Kirsty Muir to her fifth-place finish.

However, in her preferred slopestyle event, Summerhayes was much improved, finishing 10th in qualifying to reach another final, with seventh place finishes on her resume from Sochi and PyeongChang.

“I’m pretty happy,” she said.

“Obviously, I just squeaked through, it’s nice no matter what place you qualify, just so long as the final goes well, that’s all that matters. I’m pretty stoked to get another chance at the Olympics.

“I actually thought my first run was pretty bad. I landed sideways on a jump so that’s not good and there were a couple of mistakes in both of the runs.

“It’s quite nice going forward to the final knowing that I can clean both runs up. I’m pretty pumped, given me a little bit of confidence as well.”

Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru was the top qualifier followed by Norway’s Johanne Killi and China’s Big Air gold medallist Eileen Gu.

And Team GB’s Muir – at 17 the youngest member of the team in China – ranked sixth to underline her podium potential.

Twenty-four hours after the event was supposed to take place, having been delayed due to a heavy blizzard at Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park, Summerhayes insisted the delay hadn’t caused any concerns.

“Those conditions were really tough so I appreciated the delay, you don’t want to compete in weather like that,” she added.

Meanwhile, Brighouse’s Katie Ormerod was left to rue her luck after failing to qualify after she fell on two of three jumps in Big Air qualification, finished 25th and failed to make the final for the second time having also missed out in slopestyle.

Ormerod simply couldn’t build up enough speed on the ramp at Shougang to either land basic tricks to qualify or attempt complex combinations to challenge for a medal.

“I don’t usually fall in big air,” she said.

“I knew I could do these tricks, these are the ones I usually do. I knew I needed the 900 to go into the finals but I struggled with it all week.

“I just couldn’t clear it very well, it’s been tough.

“When I first looked at (the ramp) I was so relieved, as it looked great. But then when I started training I was going as fast as I could and still struggling to get deep enough.

“At most big airs, you don’t have to worry about the in-run and the speed.

“I spoke to my coach and we did everything we could. I just wasn’t quick enough and it’s a shame.”

Aged 16, Ormerod shocked the planet by becoming the first female snowboarder in the world to land a double backflip.

She wanted to try a pair of 2.5 twists for the first time in big air here and was frustrated by the feeling that the global field had left her behind due to circumstances out of her control.

“Women’s snowboarding right now is so exciting to be a part of,” said Ormerod. “I want to keep up with that and I have been doing. It takes a lot of hard work.

“That’s why I was gutted – I wanted to showcase that new trick here. But because of how the training days went, I couldn’t clear it and I’m a bit gutted.

“I’m a lot stronger than I even thought before coming here,” said Ormerod. “I’ve overcome so many battles with injury and now come here and landing runs in big air and slopestyle. It didn’t go my way but I know I can go forward to 2026 with a lot of confidence.”

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