Ashley Caldwell captures dream gold as U.S. wins inaugural Olympic mixed team aerials

U.S. aerial skier Ashley Caldwell chased down her dream Thursday in Beijing as Team USA edged out favorite China to win the inaugural gold medal in mixed team aerials at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

“I’ve been on a hunt for a gold medal for a long time now and have been pushing myself incredibly hard to do jumps I’ve never done before,” said the 28-year-old Caldwell, the 2017 World Championship gold medalist from Ashburn, Va., who was making her fourth Olympics appearance. “This is a dream come true.”

Caldwell landed a triple-twisting triple backflip in her second run to help the U.S. secure its first gold medal in aerials since 1998 when Eric Bergoust and Nikki Stone won the men’s and women’s events, respectively, in Nagano. The 2022 win also marked the first medal in aerials for Team USA since the late Jeret “Speedy” Peterson won silver in 2010.

.@ashleyskis gives @TeamUSA the current lead in the mixed team aerials final with this impressive run!