Curran Third at Aerials Junior World Championships

The international aerials season has officially wrapped up following the completion of the aerials events at the 2024 FIS Freestyle Junior Ski World Championships in Chiesa in Valmalenco, Italy. Connor Curran of the Stifel U.S. Freestyle Ski Team earned his second consecutive Junior Worlds podium, finishing third in the men’s aerials event on Thursday. 

Beautiful sunny skies, air temperatures hovering right above freezing and limited wind made for two perfect days of competition.

“It was awesome sharing the podium with my two really good friends (Alexandre Duchaine and Miha Fontaine of Canada) that I’ve known for a long time and getting the North American sweep on the podium and in the super finals - that was pretty amazing,” said Curran. “This competition is harder [than some World Cups] because there is more [doubles] degree of difficulty in this competition, so getting this podium was meaningful.” 

Ian Schoenwald of Park City Ski & Snowboard (PCSS) also made the finals, finishing fifth overall and earning a new Junior Worlds personal best. Ashton Salwan (PCSS) just missed out on finals, finishing 10th on the day. On the women’s side, Kyra Dossa and Catherine McEneany also represented Park City Ski & Snowboard, finishing seventh and 12th, respectively. 

Today, March 5, was the final event of the season: mixed aerials team. Curran, Schoenwald and Dossa were paired together as the top finishing men and women from the previous day’s competition. The trio had a successful day, qualifying and finishing fourth overall.