Caldwell Gears Up for 2018-19 Season

Ashley Caldwell (Ashburn, Va.) enters the 2018-19 competition season with high expectations and eyes firmly on retaining her World Championship title in Park City, Utah this February. Caldwell, who underwent shoulder surgery in June following a crash sustained at the 2018 Winter Olympics, is looking for redemption from those Games, and to stamp her dominant mark on her sport.

Caldwell is no stranger to pressure, you might even say she thrives on it. A three-time Olympian and 2017 World Champion, Caldwell is the first U.S. woman to land both a full, full, full and “The Daddy” - a full, double full, full. A crash during 2018 Olympic training in PyeongChang left her out of finals and unable to compete for a medal. Caldwell pushes the boundaries of her sport to be recognized as an athlete - not distinguished by male or female status, but by what athletes in her sport can achieve.

Her strategy this competition season is to compete with her triples and compete with them smartly. In order to do that, she needs to be healthy. Caldwell elected to have surgery on her shoulder in June to correct the AC joint sprain she sustained in PyeongChang. “My shoulder was too unstable to jump with. The surgery wasn’t life or death but will make me a stronger competitor this season,” Caldwell explains. She is hopeful that she will be back 100 percent by the 2019 World Championships to defend her title as the reigning female aerialist in the world.

Leading up to the competition season, which kicks off at the Lake Placid World Cup event on January 19, 2019, you can find Caldwell at U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Center of Excellence facility, training in the gym and on the trampolines. With the cooperation of Mother Nature's low temperatures, Caldwell and her teammates will start training on snow at the UOP by late November.

The 2019 World Championships, to be held in Park City from February 1 - 10, provides a unique opportunity for Caldwell and her fellow aerialists. When the U.S. Aerials Team competes at Deer Valley Resort at the 2019 World Championships February 6 & 7 under the lights on White Owl ski run, they will do so on home soil - at a team-favorite venue no less.

“It’s a huge advantage, having the crowd, volunteers and course workers all speaking your language and rooting for you. I always feel like a rock star at Deer Valley and expect with this being World Champs, that energy will be that much more intense. Deer Valley’s crowd is our best crowd, the most excited crowd on the circuit. I’m looking forward to showing the world all of the hard work my teammates and I all put into this sport. It’s much easier to show our domestic fans here than when we’re abroad.”
    - Ashley Caldwell

For Caldwell, the 2019 World Championships mean a chance to compete her best on the international stage once more. “Nothing can take away the sting [of PyeongChang]. But in some ways a domestic World Championship win can be more gratifying than the Olympics,” she says.

New for the 2019 World Championships is the addition of the Team Aerials event, which will be a 2022 Winter Olympic event. Team Aerials turns a traditionally individual sport into a collaborative one. “It’ll be a whole different vibe that day. It’s really exciting knowing it’s a medal event and will make for some great competition,” says Caldwell.

Caldwell’s quest to defend her World Championship title has her laser-focused on her program. She looks forward to the opportunity of her home field advantage in February, but beyond that just wants to compete her best on any given competition-day during the circuit.