U.S. Freestyle Stars Shine at Olympics
American freestyle skiers dominated at Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics with Chris Lillis winning aerial gold, Alex Hall and Ferreira taking slopestyle 1-2, and multiple moguls medals for Elizabeth Lemley and Jaelin Kauf. Mikaela Shiffrin captured slalom gold by just 1 second in a thrilling finish.
For Chris Lillis, this marks back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the mixed team aerials event, having also won at the 2022 Beijing Games. The U.S. team's victory establishes a dynasty, as they also claimed gold at the 2023 and 2025 World Championships. The slopestyle victory was a title defense for Alex Hall, who also took gold in 2022, where the U.S. went 1-2 as well. American men have dominated the event since its 2014 Olympic debut, when they swept the entire podium. The women's moguls performance was historic, marking the first-ever 1-2 finish for American women in an Olympic freestyle skiing event. For Jaelin Kauf, the silver was a repeat of her second-place finish at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Elizabeth Lemley's gold medal run was particularly remarkable. The 20-year-old captured the title in her Olympic debut just one season after suffering an ACL tear. Her win broke a 16-year gold medal drought for U.S. women in the moguls event. While a star on snow, Mikaela Shiffrin competes in Alpine skiing, a separate discipline from Freestyle. This slalom victory
