Murray Buchan (born 2 December 1991), nicknamed Muzza, is a

freestyle skier Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and ...

who competes in the

halfpipe A half-pipe is a structure used in gravity extreme sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding, skiing, freestyle BMX, Inline skating, skating, and scooter riding. Overview The structure resembles a cross-section of a swimming pool, essentially t ...

. Buchan's Olympic debut was at the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

, where he competed on 18 February 2014 in the halfpipe, finishing in 17th place in the qualification round.

Personal life

Buchan was born on 2 December 1991 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland. His father was a member of the

Glenshee Ski Centre Glenshee Ski Centre is an alpine snowsports area in the Scottish Highlands. It is located above the Cairnwell Pass at the head of Glen Shee on either side of the A93 road between Blairgowrie and Braemar. Glenshee is Britain's largest alpine ...

mountain rescue team.

Career

Buchan began skiing at an Edinburgh dry skiing slope at age 8, encouraged by his parents; he wanted to follow his father and be part of a mountain rescue team. Buchan began to improve, progressing to local competitions, sponsored by ski shops. He began winning his age group at tournaments, and at the age of 14 performed at his first British Skiing Championships, at which he won four events in his age group. In 2008, he won his first British Skiing Championships in the halfpipe discipline, which led to his competing at World Cup skiing events, though mainly in Europe due to finances. He was forced out of the majority of the 2009 season after dislocating his elbow. At the start of January 2014, Buchan finished 13th, his best-ever result in a World Cup, at

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

. In the winter, Buchan trains in

Breckenridge, Colorado Breckenridge is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule town that is the county seat and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Summit County, Colorado, Summit County, Colorado, United ...

. Buchan's Olympic debut was at the

, which was the first time the halfpipe had been included in a Winter Olympics. Going into the games, Buchan was the British Olympic champion in the halfpipe. He competed in the qualifiers on 18 February 2014 in the

freestyle skiing Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, Mogul Skiing, moguls, Ski Cross, cross, Half-pipe skiing, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Freestyle skiing at the Winter Olympics, Winter Olympics. It can consist of a ...

event halfpipe, and finished 17th, having targeted 18 or above in the run up to the games.

References

External links

* 1991 births Scottish male freestyle skiers Freestyle skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Living people Olympic freestyle skiers for Great Britain Skiers from Edinburgh Freestyle skiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics 21st-century Scottish sportsmen {{UK-freestyle-skiing-bio-stub