Freestyle Athletes Compete in Final Olympic Selection Events
The U.S. Freestyle Ski Team will compete in its final World Cups and selection events this weekend before U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Olympic teams are named next week. Moguls athletes will compete Jan. 20 in Mont Tremblant, Quebec while aerials athletes will jump in two events at the Putnam Investments Freestyle Cup Jan. 19-20 at the Olympic Jumping Complex in Lake Placid, New York.
The U.S. moguls team is coming off a string of top results at the Visa Freestyle International at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah. Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.) and Morgan Schild (Rochester, N.Y.) each podiumed twice, Kauf with a first and a second and Schild with two thirds, to clinch their Olympic team spots. Brad Wilson (Butte, Mont.) landed his first podium of the season, a third place finish, to put him one step closer to making the Olympic team. Troy Murphy (Bethel, Maine) is the only other moguls athlete who has one of two podiums needed to objectively qualify for the team. A strong performance in Mont Tremblant would help Murphy and other top moguls athletes make their case to be named to the team headed to PyeongChang.
The U.S. aerials team has historically performed well on the aerials site in Lake Placid. Ashley Caldwell (Ashburn, Va.) and Mac Bohonnon (Madison, Conn.) will be looking to defend their podium finishes here from last year. Jon Lillis (Rochester, N.Y.), who landed a nearly perfect triple-twisting triple flip last week, along with Maddy Olsen (Park City, Utah) and Madie Varmette (Stafford, Va.) are carrying momentum into Lake Placid after some of their best World Cup finishes in Deer Valley. With two events Friday and Saturday, athletes who haven’t podiumed so far this season could clinch their Olympic spots with two top-three finishes.
Read on to see who to watch and where to watch all the freestyle action this weekend. Live scoring will be available via FIS Freestyle.
LAKE PLACID AERIALS
Men’s Starters
Mac Bohonnon
Alex Bowen
Jon Lillis
Eric Loughran
Patrick O’Flynn
Nick Novak
Nik Seemann
Zach Surdell
Women’s Starters
Ashley Caldwell
Kiley McKinnon
Morgan Northrop
Megan Nick
Madison Olsen
Madie Varmette
MONT TREMBLANT MOGULS
Men’s Starters
Casey Andringa
Joel Hedrick
Troy Murphy
Emerson Smith
Troy Tully
Brad Wilson
Women’s Starters
Olivia Giaccio
Tess Johnson
Jaelin Kauf
Mikaela Matthews
Keaton McCargo
Morgan Schild
HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
Jan. 20
3:30 p.m. – Men’s and women’s moguls; Mont Tremblant – Olympic Channel TV
Jan. 21
8:00 p.m. – Men’s and women’s aerials; Lake Placid – NBCSN (next day delay)
