• China’s Eileen Gu second, Italy’s Flora Tabanelli third

• Briton, fourth again, says: ‘I really did have to go for it’

This time, Kirsty Muir must surely have believed that a Winter Olympic medal was in her grasp. But as a thrilling big air competition reached its denouement, an Italian with no anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee came down a 180‑feet ramp and drove a stake through the Briton’s heart.

It all looked so promising when the 21-year-old from Aberdeen landed a stunning left double 1620, with four and a half rotations, to move into the medal positions after two of the three rounds. However, with just four jumps of the competition remaining, Flora Tabanelli, who tore her ACL in November, did the same trick as Muir but only better to score 94.25 points to steal the bronze medal.

• Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale win a thriller

• First time GB have won two golds at a Winter Games

A drinking session, a punch on the nose, an equipment malfunction. It sounds like a typical Saturday night in Hemel Hempstead or Bolton. But it turned out to be the unlikely recipe behind Team GB’s first gold medal on snow at the Winter Olympics – after 102 years of trying.

Amid dramatic scenes in Livigno, Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale carved their way into Team GB history with a staggering display of devilry and nerve to secure mixed snowboard cross glory. For good measure, it was the first leg of what turned out to be Britain’s greatest day at the Winter Games with Tabitha Stoecker and Matt Weston also later winning gold.