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LIVIGNO, Italy – The United States’ mixed aerials team was looking for redemption.
They achieved that – and then some.
For the second consecutive Olympics, the Americans are the mixed aerials champions, with Chris Lillis, Connor Curran and Kaila Kuhn flying and contorting themselves to the top of the podium.
Lillis is now a back-to-back gold medalist in the event, as he was part of the 2022 Beijing championship trio alongside Ashley Caldwell and Justin Schoenefeld. (Caldwell and Schoenefeld married last year at the top of a mountain in Park City, Utah, where the aerials teams train.) Lillis has 15 World Cup podiums – eight are third-place finishes.
Curran, 23, was a late addition to the trio because of an injury to Quinn Dehlinger, the 23-year-old who’d been on the rise but reaggravated a knee injury during training here this week. Snow, wind and fog in the area for the last week also drastically altered the training schedule and made for underprepared jumpers.
Kuhn took gold at the 2025 world championships and also won the mixed aerials event with Lillis. She advanced alongside teammate Winter Vinecki to the six-person finals in the individual event, but both messed up their final jump to miss the podium.
On the men’s side, Curran and Lillis advanced to the 12-person final but didn’t make it past the six-person cutdown.
"I’ve done big competitions," Lillis said Friday. "I’ve won big competitions. I’ve lost big competitions. It’s a part of being a competitive athlete. We deal with it."
Gold is certainly one way to do that.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Team USA repeats with Olympic mixed aerials gold medal
Continue reading...
They achieved that – and then some.
For the second consecutive Olympics, the Americans are the mixed aerials champions, with Chris Lillis, Connor Curran and Kaila Kuhn flying and contorting themselves to the top of the podium.
Lillis is now a back-to-back gold medalist in the event, as he was part of the 2022 Beijing championship trio alongside Ashley Caldwell and Justin Schoenefeld. (Caldwell and Schoenefeld married last year at the top of a mountain in Park City, Utah, where the aerials teams train.) Lillis has 15 World Cup podiums – eight are third-place finishes.
Curran, 23, was a late addition to the trio because of an injury to Quinn Dehlinger, the 23-year-old who’d been on the rise but reaggravated a knee injury during training here this week. Snow, wind and fog in the area for the last week also drastically altered the training schedule and made for underprepared jumpers.
Kuhn took gold at the 2025 world championships and also won the mixed aerials event with Lillis. She advanced alongside teammate Winter Vinecki to the six-person finals in the individual event, but both messed up their final jump to miss the podium.
On the men’s side, Curran and Lillis advanced to the 12-person final but didn’t make it past the six-person cutdown.
"I’ve done big competitions," Lillis said Friday. "I’ve won big competitions. I’ve lost big competitions. It’s a part of being a competitive athlete. We deal with it."
Gold is certainly one way to do that.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Team USA repeats with Olympic mixed aerials gold medal
Continue reading...
