Britain’s Zoe Atkin wins halfpipe silver in first World Cup of Olympic season

Atkin missed out on gold by just 1.50 points, with rival Eileen Gu taking top spot

Zoe Atkin claimed silver on her first World Cup outing of the season (Getty Images)

British skier Zoe Atkin kicked off her Olympic season in style with a silver medal in the halfpipe World Cup event in Secret Garden, China.

The 22-year-old, who is the reigning halfpipe world champion, led after the first run with an impressive score of 90.25, but could not better that on her second attempt.

Her Chinese rival Eileen Gu fell behind on the first run with a score of 85.25 but produced a stellar second run, scoring 91.75 to clinch gold.

Australian 15-year-old Indra Brown rounded off the podium, securing a maiden podium finish on her World Cup debut, with a score of 82.00.

Atkin was just pipped to gold by China's Eileen Gu (Getty Images)

The result was Atkin’s 11th career World Cup podium, and is a promising start to the season after she missed the opening competition of the year at Snow League due to illness.

Atkin - who shared the overall World Cup crystal globe last season with China’s Li Fanghui - has now finished on the podium in each of her last four races on the circuit.