Winter Olympics 2026: U.S. wins file eleventh gold medal at these Games

LIVIGNO, Italy — The United States set a brand new American file for gold medals received at a Winter Olympics on Saturday. And it got here from a self-discipline the place Team USA hadn’t had any success earlier within the Games.

After disappointing performances within the particular person aerials occasions, the blended workforce of Kaila Kuhn, Connor Curran and Chris Lillis received to take dwelling some {hardware}, defending the gold medal Team USA received on this occasion 4 years in the past in Beijing.

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It was the eleventh gold of those Games for the U.S., topping its earlier Winter Olympics file set in Salt Lake City 24 years in the past.

“We’ve had a lot of success with (this event), and I think the fact a lot of U.S. athletes come from team sports and just using each other as motivation really helps us, especially in aerials skiing,” stated Lillis, who was the one holdover from the 2022 workforce and thus grew to become probably the most embellished aerials skier in Team USA historical past. “It can feel kind of lonely up there, but if you watched our team at any point in the day, we literally vibe off each other so much and each person that puts down a great jump just motivates the next person.”

After not one of the Americans hit the rostrum throughout the person competitors — all of them appeared to battle with takeoff speeds in altering wind situations — it was unclear who would truly be chosen to compete within the workforce occasion.

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Lillis, 27, was apparent given his observe file, and the 22-year outdated Kuhn received the gold medal eventually 12 months’s world championships. The third spot went to Curran, a 21-year outdated, first-time Olympian from Cincinnati, who stated he discovered at roughly 6:30 p.m. Friday evening he was getting the decision.

“Connor says he was nervous, and I’m sure he was, but I wasn’t nervous for him,” Lillis stated. “When you get into that moment and you’ve got the right people on the team you just know you’re going to have success.”

It turned out to be an excellent name, because the Americans landed six straight clear runs throughout the 2 rounds of the finals to say the gold.

As Lillis caught a clear touchdown on the ultimate soar of the competitors — a again double-full-full-full soar — he pumped his fist, figuring out he had definitely finished sufficient to safe the highest spot on the rostrum.

“I think we all walked away from our individual competitions pretty crushed,” Kuhn stated. “None of us really performed at our highest degree that we could have, and we know that we could bounce back for this event so we used it as motivation and it worked out in our favor.”

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On a day with a lightweight, however regular snow and little or no wind, the situations have been way more favorable for the American males — “Connor and I are both pretty tall, lanky jumpers, which made it a little bit easier,” Lillis stated — however what actually made the distinction was popping out robust immediately and staying constant all through.

Starting with Kuhn, who landed a pleasant back-full-full-full to get issues began, the U.S. was on high of the leaderboard proper out of the gate and amassed a mixed rating of 351.23 within the first spherical — considerably greater than the opposite three groups (China, Australia and Switzerland) who made the lower to the second spherical of the finals.

Though scores reset after the primary ultimate spherical, the U.S. had earned the benefit of going final, which meant they might alter their technique primarily based on what different groups have been doing. That turned out to be essential as a result of China, which dominated the person occasions and received 4 of the six medals, didn’t get clear runs out of its two male skiers.

Wang Xindi, the lads’s gold medalist, tried a double full-double full-full soar that might have earned a excessive rating primarily based on diploma of issue if he landed it on China’s second run. But he didn’t fairly measure the touchdown accurately, leaving the door open for the Americans to take management.

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That allowed Curran to dial again a bit for his soar, touchdown a again full-double full-full to place the U.S. in entrance with a mixed rating of 208.16, almost 24 factors forward of China.

“Team China is always the team to beat,” Lillis stated. “They helped us out a bit today”

On the third run, China’s Li Tianma landed quick and dislodged his skis, that means Lillis solely wanted to attain 89 factors to safe gold. Though nothing is assured in an occasion the place you’re leaping 50 ft within the air and attempting to land on skis, it allowed him to carry out a fairly normal trick with lots of margin for error so long as he averted catastrophe.

Though it took almost two lengthy minutes for the judges to really announce the rating after Lillis’ clear touchdown, there wasn’t a lot suspense. Lillis’ 117.19 was lots adequate to beat Switzerland by almost 30 factors. China took the bronze.

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“In aerial skiing, I’d say the average jumper crashes on 50 percent of their jumps,” Lillis stated. “So for three different people to put down two rounds, it’s extremely difficult. Though (my performance) in the individual events doesn’t get redeemed by the team event, it’s so great to get Olympic gold with my teammates and to do it for them and them doing it for me and I can’t describe how special it is to bring home a gold medal for the U.S.”

And it was a big gold medal, certainly. After a little bit of a sluggish begin to the Olympics for the motion sports activities – together with zero gold medals in snowboarding – Alex Ferreira’s freeski halfpipe gold on Friday and this effort by the aerials workforce made this probably the most golden Winter Olympics ever for the U.S.

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“It hasn’t been easy and we’ve all had our falls,” Kuhn stated. “For us to put things down when it really, truly matters. … I wanted to walk away with a medal. I let myself be upset (about the individual event) for a couple hours but then I knew I had to switch gears and I wasn’t going to let that beat me down for too long. I let it motivate me for my job today.”