A year of injury rehab and two surgeries later, Kirsty Muir is back on the slopes and better than ever.
The 20-year-old freestyle skier saw the rug pulled out from underneath her in December 2023 when an MRI revealed that she had torn her ACL.
But after extensive rehab and plenty of support, Muir returned to the World Cup circuit in January 2025 and immediately qualified for the finals in her first competition back.
Two months later, she reached the top of the podium for the first time in her career with slopestyle gold in Tignes, France.
"I've been wanting that for so long," she said. "I started competing in World Cups when I was 15 and have been trying for so long.
"Even before then, I had been dreaming about it so I'm so happy to have done it finally.
"I'm just thankful to everyone for helping me get through the last year and coming back stronger."
Unlike most who tear their ACL and understand the feeling, Muir admitted that she was weirdly not quite rolling on the floor in pain.
It was actually more of a shock to hear that her knee was in such a state, the ligament having likely torn over time due to the impactful nature of her sport.
"In December 2023 I was in a big air final and on my second run I had a crash and felt the back of my knee a little bit but the pain eased off," she said.
"I asked my coach if I had the chance of a podium if I did my third run and we decided that I did and I managed to land it and got third which was super cool.
"I went home and already had a shoulder MRI planned and so I decided to get my knee checked at the same time and turns out I had fully snapped by ACL. I didn't expect it at all!
"So in January I got knee surgery and in March I had shoulder surgery so it was a double rehab to get everything done at once.
"It was a full year of rehab, back in the snow park in November and then back on the circuit in January."
With an entire year off the snow and forced to find her adrenaline in other ways, Muir instead spent her summer of recovery on the bike rather than the snow.
"I always enjoy doing other adrenaline activities because I feel like I always need it so this summer I did a lot of mountain biking which was fun," she added.
"I haven't had the chance to do that much recently so I got myself an e-bike which makes it way easier on the Scottish trails which was nice and I had a sick time doing that this summer."
But it was returning to her roots on the trampoline that she always has the most fun.
Muir used to train at a gymnastics trampolining club before turning to freestyle skiing full-time.
However, the Beijing Olympian admitted that she was a bit more of a rebel on the apparatus, to the frustration of her coach at the time, and was never quite going to reach the heights of Paris 2024 Olympic champion Bryony Page.
"I've watched Bryony at every Olympics she's been to and she's so sick," she added.
"I used to go to trampoline club myself and do the same tricks she does but I'd always ask my coach if I could do a cork seven and they'd tell me no and to do a back full which I didn't like doing.
"I was sneaky and would do my own ski tricks on the side because they are quite different, we go around the axis a lot more whilst in trampolining you keep straight.
"My coach always found it funny because he had not seen any of my ski tricks before and I just wanted to send it."
With Milano Cortina now less than a year away, Muir will enter the summer months ready to perfect her routines and add a little extra to her runs for next season, with the hopes of a second Olympic Games on the horizon.
"I'd be super stoked to go again and I had a super time last time," she said.
"I was really young in Beijing but now I'm a bit more grown up and have that experience.
"Getting points for the qualification, I've already got some good results under by belt including that win.
"So this summer, it will all be about learning some new tricks so I can go in next year with a fighting shot."
Sportsbeat 2025