All Eyes on Ashley Caldwell as World Cup Kicks Off
When the FIS Freestyle aerials World Cup kicks off this weekend in Secret Garden, China, all eyes will be on reigning World Cup champion Ashley Caldwell (Ashburn, Va.) as she begins the journey to make her third Olympic team. U.S. Ski & Snowboard caught up with Ashley before she left for China to talk about the two training camps she participated in this fall and how she’s feeling heading into this Olympic season.
With pre-season on-snow camps, what is your strategy as far as progression goes? Is the goal to be landing your biggest tricks before the first World Cups?
The pre-season camps we did in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and Ruka, Finland were incredible for this season's preparation period. Usually, before the first World Cup of the season, our team rushes through tricks in order to get up to the degree of difficulty tricks that we need to compete. Not only is this dangerous and scary, but it’s also unproductive. As an aerialist, it is important to nail the basic tricks before moving on to harder jumps. My strategy during these camps was to nail some of my basic tricks and feel confident when I get to my highest degree of difficulty. My goal isn't to peak at the first World Cups. I'd like to be doing some of my easier triples. Then, when I start to feel good, I will begin doing my biggest tricks, probably heading into the Deer Valley and Lake Placid World Cups in January in front of the home fans.
What were some cool aspects of the camps in Saas Fee and Ruka? What made you enjoy each one?
Both locations were beautiful. We got to experience both locations but also made sure that we focused on our jumping and our physical fitness during these camps. I loved the town of Saas-Fee, just walking around and hiking was incredible. The jumping site in Saas-Fee was smaller than most World Cup sites, which made it perfect for our first singles and doubles of the season. Ruka was like living in a snow globe made for World Cup skiers. The training was superb and the environment was focused. Also, both places had really great food...especially cookies!
How hard is it mentally preparing to jump in a new location?
It can be a little nerve-racking showing up to a site that you have never been to before. Every hill in the world has a little different profile. The angles and dimensions of each site fall within a scope but can vary enough to make your eyes wide at first glance. Luckily for us, we can start with easier tricks to get used to a new site.
You posted a video of a pretty epic crash from Ruka. Walk us through what happened in that jump and how you prepared yourself to get back up and do it again.
Despite popular belief, it’s almost impossible to land backward on an aerials site due to the degree of the slope of the landing. In Ruka, on my first days of triples, I messed up one of my tricks and landed - safely - backward. I didn't ski away, but that would have been cool.
What had happened in the trick is that I got a little confused and almost went for a bigger trick, a lay-full-full. I quickly realized my mistake and then got a little out of place in the air. I have a lot of trampoline background so I felt pretty comfortable looking at the ground and putting my feet down even though it was the wrong direction.
Our sport is scary and dangerous, so when you mess up a trick that bad it can be mentally challenging. My mental strategy to handle fear looks the same most time: acknowledge the fear, make fun of the fear, realize you've been successful after crashes and fear before, then go have fun and enjoy overcoming another one of sport's challenges.
With two on-snow camps under your belt (way more than last year ha), how are you feeling heading into China?
Despite a crazy landing in Ruka, I feel pretty good heading into China. I haven't done all the tricks that I need to do, but I have logged more snow time than any other year heading into these first World Cups. I have a lot of work to get done this year, but our whole team is off to an incredible start.
Ashley Caldwell
2022 U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist Ashley Caldwell from Ashburn, Virginia, is an exceptional aerial skier. She now resides in Park City, Utah, and has made history as the only female to land "The Daddy," a quadruple-twisting triple backflip. Along with this achievement, she also holds a World Record for the hardest acrobatic trick ever landed by a female.