Atkin’s diet of Marmite seals Britain’s first skiing medal
IT started with a fall and ended with a climb up a podium to collect a bronze medal. In between, Izzy Atkin, Britain’s Marmite-munching queen of the mountains, seemed to love what she was doing when she wasn’t hating it.
It really was that kind of day in the skiing slopestyle, given that it started with her botching her first two attempts to qualify and later saw her slip from third to fourth ahead of her final run in the main competition.
That is pressure and what a big-occasion performer this 19-year-old proved to be. She hit the slope, pulled off her best routine of the day, and reclaimed bronze before standing by to see if any of the final three competitors could knock her out of the medals.
They couldn’t and just like that Britain had its first-ever skiing medal in the history of the Winter Olympics.
‘I still can’t believe it,’ said Atkin. ‘I’m overwhelmed. I’m just really happy.
‘Watching those last three go was very stressful. I was very nervous.’
But her tally of 84.60 was good enough behind the Swiss pair of Sarah Hoefflin (91.20) and Mathilde Gremaud on 88.00.
Atkin was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a father from Birmingham and Malaysian mother. The family moved to Utah for the benefit of her skiing and she chose Britain five years ago, during which time she has emerged as one of the country’s brightest hopes.
Her father Mike was beaming as he detailed how his daughter came to represent his country.
‘I think of myself as British. Obviously Isabel was born in the US so it’s a little more complicated. Some of it is stylistic — the US team is a very big team and Isabel is shy and reserved so we thought she’d do better in a smaller environment. That was a large part of it. ‘But in terms of being British, the kids grew up on Ribena and Marmite.’ Atkin’s fall off a rail on her first qualifying run left her in the surprising position of struggling to reach the final. She ultimately qualified comfortably, but a routine 68.40 left her fourth after the first round. She climbed to third with 79.40 in the second and held the position until Gremaud jumped to second and bumped Atkin to fourth.
With the stakes high, she delivered her best run and got the medal that started the rush.