Identification of near-yrast states in the \beta -stable nucleus ⁹¹Zr₅₁ has been carried out using the fusion evaporation reaction, ⁸²Se(¹³C,4n)⁹¹Zr at an incident beam energy of 50 MeV. States above the reported \tau =6 \mu s, I^\pi ={21}/{2}⁺ isomeric level at E_x=3167 keV have been identified for the first time in this work, a tentative decay scheme of near-yrast states to excitation energies in excess of 10 MeV has been constructed. These states are of relevance to shell model structures formed via limited valence-space configurations in this semi-magic N=51 nucleus.

PACS numbers: 21.10.--k, 21.60.Cs, 27.60.+j, 29.30.Kv