U.S. Olympic Freestyle Team Announced

Veteran Olympians Ashley Caldwell (Ashburn, Va.), Mac Bohonnon (Madison, Conn.) and Bradley Wilson (Butte, Mont.), plus current World Cup leader Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.) headline a team of 14 athletes named to the 2018 U.S. Olympic Freestyle Ski Team that will compete at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 beginning February 9. The selections will be confirmed by the United States Olympic Committee when it formally names Team USA this Friday (January 26).

The moguls and aerials teams were selected based on results from seven Olympic qualification events during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

“This is one of the strongest freestyle teams we’ve seen in recent Olympic years,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard freestyle program director Todd Schirman. “Every single one of these athletes have podium potential and have demonstrated that leading up to this season and throughout our qualification process. We are extremely proud of this team and look forward to seeing what they can do in PyeongChang.”

The moguls team will open its Olympic competition with qualifying and medal events Feb. 9, 11 and 12. Aerials will compete Feb. 15-18.

NBCUniversal will present more than 2,400 hours of coverage across NBC, NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network, NBCOlympics.com, and the NBC Sports app - the most ever for a Winter Olympics.

TEAM FACTS

• At 24 years old, Ashley Caldwell carries the most Olympic experience on this team, having competed in both Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014. The reigning World Champion has progressed from double jumps to throwing some of the highest degree of difficulty triple-twisting triple flips on the women’s World Cup tour. In 2017, she becomes the first woman to successfully land a quadruple-twisting triple flip called “The Daddy.”
• Mac Bohonnon and Kiley McKinnon grew up in the same town. Both have seen success at the World Cup and World Championship level. McKinnon brought home a World Championship silver medal in 2015. She and Bohonnon shared overall World Cup titles that same season.
• Bohonnon has trained “The Hurricane,” a quintuple-twisting triple flip that won Jeret “Speedy” Peterson a silver medal at the 2010 Games. It hasn’t been completed since Speedy and Bohonnon could potentially compete with it in PyeongChang.
• After proving her prowess in dual moguls, Jaelin Kauf has dominated single moguls competitions this season with four podium finishes, including two wins. Her parents both competed on the pro mogul tour. The course in PyeongChang will play to Kauf’s strengths of clean, fast skiing.
• 20-year-old Morgan Schild spent 22 months recovering from an ACL injury. She returned to competition in January 2016 and has been one of the strongest U.S. women’s mogul skiers ever since.
• Casey Andringa burst onto the World Cup scene just one month ago, placing in the top 10 in his first two starts. He and his brother lived in a tent in Steamboat Springs, Colorado this summer to supplement costs and train on the water ramps there.

2018 U.S. Olympic Freestyle Skiing Team

Men’s Moguls
Casey Andringa - Boulder, Colo. (10/6/1995)
Troy Murphy - Bethel, Maine (06/13/1992)
Bradley Wilson - Butte, Mont. (06/05/1992)*
Emerson Smith - Dover, Vt. (12/13/1997)

Women’s Moguls
Tess Johnson - Vail, Colo. (06/12/2000)
Jaelin Kauf - Alta, Wyo. (09/26/1996)
Keaton McCargo - Telluride, Colo. (07/10/1995)
Morgan Schild - Rochester, N.Y. (08/25/1997)

Men’s Aerials
Mac Bohonnon - Madison, Conn. (08/20/1994)*
Jon Lillis - Rochester, N.Y. (08/20/1994)
Eric Loughran - Pelham, N.H. (12/04/1995)

Women’s Aerials
Ashley Caldwell - Ashburn, Va. (09/14/1993)*
Kiley McKinnon - Madison, Conn. (09/01/1995)
Madison Olsen - Park City, Utah (04/07/1995)

*Competed in past Olympics

QUOTES

Matt Gnoza, Head Moguls Coach
Our Olympic moguls team has a great blend of experience and youth. For many athletes, this will be their first time competing at the Games. I couldn’t be more pleased with what we have in the way of a team. This is a very solid group of athletes that are strong, prepared and focused and has a ton of potential to execute in PyeongChang.

Todd Ossian, Head Aerials Coach
Our aerials Olympic team has experienced a huge level of success at the World Cup and World Championship levels and is fully capable of replicating that success in PyeongChang. We’re coming into these Games with more on snow time than we’ve ever had and are primed for our best performances.

Jaelin Kauf
Representing my country in the Olympics is something I have been dreaming of for such a long time and I cannot wait to finally make it a reality. Not only am I accomplishing this huge goal but I am able to share this experience and compete in my first Olympic Games alongside my closest friends and teammates. To be able to share this with them will make the whole experience so much more special. Knowing that the whole country is supporting us and cheering us on as we represent the United States in Korea is incredible. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the realness of it.

Bradley Wilson
To get the call that I qualified was huge. There’s so much that goes into this process, all the training and intense, high-pressure competition, so to finally get that confirmation is amazing. I am just as excited as I was when I made the team in 2014.

Ashley Caldwell
I never thought that I would be going to my third Olympic games at 24, and being the veteran is wild to me. I’ve been training with this team since I was 13 years old. We all started the sport at the same time and it’s really cool that we get to go to the Olympics together. We’re a strong team and I’m excited for the camaraderie we’re going to have this Games.

Mac Bohonnon
I could not be more excited to have made my second Olympic team. It was the greatest experience of my life going to my first Olympics in 2014 and since I got a taste I’ve wanted to get back. I spent the past four years training to not only get back to the games but to go and win a gold medal. I am so excited to have the opportunity to represent myself, my family, my team and most importantly Team USA in PyeongChang.