The U.S. will go into the 2026 Milan Cortina Games as both the reigning Olympic champion and the reigning world champion in mixed team aerials.
Kaila Kuhn, Quinn Dehlinger and Chris Lillis combined to win the world title in Switzerland on Thursday.
The trio totaled 344.62 points for their three super final jumps, prevailing by 32.28 over silver medalist Ukraine. Switzerland took bronze at the biennial worlds.
China, the 2022 Olympic silver medalist, placed sixth, missing the four-team super final. China has been the world’s top aerials nation this season, and its team Thursday included reigning individual Olympic gold medalists Xu Mengtao and Qi Guangpu.
Lillis also won gold in the team event’s Olympic debut in 2022 (with Ashley Caldwell and Justin Schoenefeld). That marked the U.S.’ third all-time Olympic gold across the aerials events after Nikki Stone and Eric Bergoust swept the women’s and men’s titles in 1998.
Lillis, 26, and Dehlinger, 22, were also on the U.S. team that won the last world title in 2023 (with Caldwell). Kuhn, 21, earned her first world medal Thursday.
“Kaila, I’ve been watching her grow up and just go through triple (jumps),” Lillis said. “Quinn is kind of like a little brother to me. I’ve had such a fun time growing with him. I just knew I couldn’t let them down.”
The individual aerials events at worlds are Sunday. The U.S. took men’s silver at the last two worlds with Lillis (2021) and Dehlinger (2023).
Kuhn was the world junior silver medalist in 2022, one month after placing eighth in individual aerials in her Olympic debut at age 18. On Thursday, Kuhn said she landed her specific triple jump for the first time.
The World Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding Championships continue Friday with finals in snowboard cross and snowboard big air.
