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 snowboarding, skateboarding, skiing, freestyle BMX, skating, and scooter riding. Overview The structure resembles a cross-section of a swimming pool, essentially two concave ra ...

. Buchan's Olympic debut was at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

, 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 ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, 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 Mountain rescue refers to search and rescue activities that occur in a mountainous environment, although the term is sometimes also used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. This tends to include mountains with tech ...

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 the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. In the winter, Buchan trains in

Breckenridge, Colorado The Town of Breckenridge is the home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Summit County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 5,078 at the 2020 United States Census. Breckenridge is the pr ...

. 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 Sportspeople from Edinburgh Freestyle skiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics {{UK-freestyle-skiing-bio-stub