Inside the daredevil world of ski halfpipe with Zoe Atkin: ‘It’s a risky thing. But I train for this’

Sean Ingle in Milan Tue, 3 February 2026 at 12:58 pm UTC·5 min read As part of Zoe Atkin’s degree at Stanford University she is learning how the brain conquers fear. The Team GB freestyle skier is about to put theory into practice in one of the most dangerous – and dazzling – sports at the Winter Olympics. “What we do is pretty risky,” she says. “When a regular person watches, they’re like, ‘Oh my god, these guys are crazy. What are they doing?’” No wonder, given her sport involves skiing down a 22-foot wall of ice before twisting and spinning her body high into the sky and landing back on the wall. Then repeating the daredevilry five more times in quick succession.Advertisement...