freestyle skiing

Chris Lillis Leads Team USA Into Men's Aerial Finals

Lillis and Schoenefeld hoping to add to their medal collection after winning gold in mixed Aerials earlier in Beijing

NBCUniversal Media, LLC

Twelve skiers, including Americans Eric Loughran, Chris Lillis and Justin Schoenefeld, will be looking for medals Wednesday in the final of the men’s aerial event.

The finals are set to begin 6 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Feb. 16.

This is the first Olympic appearance for Schoenefeld and Lillis, but they’ve made the most of their time in Beijing, winning gold in the mixed team aerials alongside teammate Ashley Caldwell. On his way to the gold medal, Lillis recorded the highest individual jump score of the field -- 135 -- on his second jump. 

Meanwhile, Loughran -- a 26-year-old from Lowell, Mass. -- has already improved upon his 2018 Olympic debut when he finished 25th in qualifications.

The U.S. isn’t the only team with multiple chances of winning a medal. 

The ROC, Switzerland, China and Ukraine all have two athletes competing. Belarus is the lone country represented by one athlete in the finals.

Don’t count the Belarusians out. Belarus leads both the total and gold medal count in this event with five and two, respectively. They won a medal in every Olympics from 1998 to 2014.

Contact Us