Aerials, Women

Alla Tsuper of Belarus had competed at four editions of the Winter Olympic Games between 1998 and 2010 without reaching the podium before deciding to retire and start a family. She returned to the Games in 2014, however, and surprised spectators by taking home the gold medal. The reigning Olympic champion returned in 2018, becoming the only freestyle skier to compete in six editions of the Games and hoping to defend her title. Aerials are often, however, an unpredictable sport, and she faced many viable challengers in her quest for gold. The most consistent of these was probably China’s Xu Mengtao, the runner up in 2014 and the bronze medalist at the last two editions of the World Championships. Ashley Caldwell of the United States was the reigning World Champion, while Australia’s Laura Peel had taken the title in 2015.

The aerials’ unpredictability left Russia’s Aleksandra Orlova as the top qualifier, with Caldwell failing to make the final even after the second qualification round. Orlova’s closest competitor was the relatively unknown Anna Guskova of Belarus, while Xu rounded out the top three. Huskova’s first jump in the final proved that her placing was no fluke, as she came out significantly ahead of the other competitors to take the first round. Xu, who had been behind Huskova, came into the second round determined, but failed to execute her landing properly and was eliminated from the tournament, as was Orlova. Huskova also seemed shaky, however, finishing the round in fourth behind Kong Fanyu and Zhang Xin, both unheralded skiers from China, and Peel. In the end, however, Huskova pulled off the best performance of the finals that, while not flawless, was sufficient to earn her the gold medal and keep the Olympic title in her country’s possession. Her teammate Tsuper, however, attempted to finish with the same jump that had earned her gold four years earlier, but crashed on the landing and was out of the competition. Zhang also performed very well, but was edged out by Huskova and thus settled for silver, while Kong was able take bronze with a safe, but successful jump that placed her ahead of the more challenging, but failed executions of the remainder of the field.