kaila kuhn fifth-place finish caps snow-delayed aerials day in Livigno
Heavy snow upended the freestyle aerials schedule, but when competition resumed on Wednesday, February 18 (ET), two northern Michigan natives put in strong performances. Kaila Kuhn of Boyne City finished fifth and Winter Vinecki of Gaylord placed sixth in a finals round that saw high difficulty skip a clean landing for several contenders.
Snowstorm forces qualifying into same day as finals
A heavy snowstorm swept through the Livigno area on Tuesday, February 17 (ET), forcing organizers to delay the qualifying round for women's aerials. The interruption led to qualifying being rescheduled for the same day as the finals on Wednesday, February 18 (ET), compressing what is normally a multi-day progression into a single, high-pressure session.
The change in schedule created unpredictable conditions for athletes and coaches. An early post by Kaila Kuhn indicated the event would take place the following day, though exact start times were not finalized until race-day announcements. The compressed timetable tested physical recovery and mental focus for competitors, with several athletes attempting their most difficult tricks under fresh snow and rapidly shifting wind and visibility conditions.
Americans fall just short of the podium after daring attempts
The finals boiled down to one jump for the top six—a format where previous scores are wiped and a single performance determines medal placement. In Livigno, five of the six finalists attempted the same high-difficulty triple: a back-full-full-full. It was a make-or-break gamble.
Kuhn, the 22-year-old who arrived as the 2025 world champion, put up a strong series of performances earlier in the day with scores above the field, but her medal hopes unraveled in the final jump when a late landing left her sitting down and the scoring dropped. Her final mark of 99. 16 fell from a prior 109. 90 and left her in fifth place. "It's a privilege that I have worked so hard over these last four years that I am upset that I didn't get a medal, " she said, reflecting a mix of pride and disappointment.
Winter Vinecki, also representing Team USA and improving on her previous Olympic finish, similarly struggled on the landing in the medal round. Her final score of 90. 58 was a dip from a qualifying score of 107. 75, producing a sixth-place finish. Vinecki noted the evolving competitive landscape, observing that the field is trending toward uniformly higher difficulty: "I think you're going to start to see it more and more common that the girls are going to start doing full-full-full, maybe even more harder tricks in the future. "
China's top contenders produced the cleanest performances when it mattered. The gold medal was claimed with a winning final jump that outpaced the rest of the field, while silver and bronze went to athletes who nailed their high-difficulty attempts in the decisive round. The event illustrated how unforgiving aerials can be—height and mid-air form contribute heavily to scoring, but a single imperfect landing can erase an otherwise elite run.
Local impact and what comes next
The snowstorm also had local effects: several schools in northern Michigan canceled classes on Wednesday, February 18 (ET), as the region reacted to winter weather. For Kuhn and Vinecki, the result in Livigno marks progress on the Olympic stage. Kuhn improved on an eighth-place finish at the previous Winter Games, while Vinecki moved up from a lower placing in Beijing, signaling upward momentum for both athletes even without a podium.
Both skiers leave Livigno with mixed emotions—pride in hard-fought international results and frustration at missed medal opportunities. Their performances underscore the razor-thin margins in aerials and hint at a future where higher difficulty becomes the norm. For now, the focus will shift to recovery, reflection and preparation for the remainder of the season as both athletes build on strong showings amid unpredictable weather and intense competition.
