They say family and friends are only ever a phone call away and Zoe Atkin revealed some words of wisdom from sister Izzy helped her regain her composure to finish ninth in the Olympic halfpipe final.
Atkin qualified in fourth place with two impressive runs on Thursday but her confidence was dented by two falls in her first two final runs.
The US-based freeskier then made a tearful call home to elder sister and 2018 slopestyle bronze medallist Izzy, who left Beijing early after suffering a setback in her recovery from a broken pelvis which caused her to withdraw from competing.
"I called her after my second run because I was a little teary - I was really nervous," explained Atkin.
"She gave me some advice and told me that I got it. She's here in spirit."
Whatever she said appeared to work as Atkin managed to clear her head and lay down a run of 73.25 to claim ninth in the event won by her long-time friend and Chinese poster girl Eileen Gu, who claimed her second gold and third medal of her home Games.
Atkin added: "Eileen is really inspiring. She goes out of the halfpipe and it's definitely a little bit scary but it's also fun going really big.
"I think she's really great for the sport, she's really inspiring for the other skiers including myself.
"She pushes the sport to another level and it's really great to be a part of and to watch."
Olympic debut ✅
— Team GB (@TeamGB) February 18, 2022
Olympic final ✅
Top 10 finish ✅
A good effort from Zoe Atkin in the women's halfpipe final after 3 runs.#TeamGB | #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/KO0gUdEqLV
Atkin lost a ski on both of her first two runs and admitted she was struggling with the pace amid blustery conditions at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou.
She explained: "I planned a harder run than my qualification one and as soon as I landed my second trick, I was going into my third and I knew I didn't have the speed - I only went a foot out of the halfpipe. I did the best I could with the speed I had.
"The wind died down towards the end but it was a little bit gusty and hit you at random times in the pipe and that can be a factor for speed."
Despite finishing much lower down the leaderboard than she hoped or aimed for, world bronze medallist Atkin was able to take some positives ahead of the next Olympic cycle.
"I've got mixed feelings as I wasn't able to do the run that I wanted to and be higher up in the ranks but I'm still in the Olympic final on my Olympic debut," she said.
"I'm hoping I can learn some bigger tricks and go bigger out of the halfpipe and get a lot smoother with my skiing and be able to put one down in 2026."