Kelly Sildaru

Kelly Sildaru
Sildaru during the Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland, in January 2020
Country Estonia
Born (2002-02-17) 17 February 2002 (age 21)
Tallinn, Estonia
Height5 ft 5 in (165 cm)[1]
World Cup career
Seasons5 - (2017–2019, 2020–present)
Individual wins6
Indiv. podiums13
Indiv. starts15
Overall titles0
Discipline titles1 – (1 SS)
Medal record
Women's freestyle skiing
Representing  Estonia
International freestyle ski competitions
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 0 0 1
World Championships 1 0 0
Winter X Games 5 2 1
Winter X Games Europe 0 1 0
Winter Dew Tour 4 1 0
Winter Youth Olympics 1 0 0
Junior World Championships 6 1 0
Total 17 5 2
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Slopestyle 11 0 1
Halfpipe / Superpipe 4 2 0
Big air 1 3 1
Streetstyle 1 0 0
Total 17 5 2
World Cup race podiums
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Slopestyle 5 1 0
Halfpipe 1 3 2
Big air 0 0 1
Total 6 4 3
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Beijing Slopestyle
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2019 Utah Halfpipe
Winter X Games
Gold medal – first place 2016 Aspen Slopestyle
Gold medal – first place 2017 Aspen Slopestyle
Gold medal – first place 2019 Aspen Slopestyle
Gold medal – first place 2020 Aspen Slopestyle
Gold medal – first place 2020 Aspen Superpipe
Gold medal – first place 2022 Aspen Superpipe
Silver medal – second place 2017 Aspen Big air
Silver medal – second place 2019 Aspen Superpipe
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Aspen Big air
Winter X Games Europe
Silver medal – second place 2017 Hafjell Big air
Winter Dew Tour
Gold medal – first place 2015 Breckenridge Slopestyle
Gold medal – first place 2016 Breckenridge Slopestyle
Gold medal – first place 2018 Breckenridge Slopestyle
Gold medal – first place 2021 Copper Mountain Streetstyle
Silver medal – second place 2021 Copper Mountain Superpipe
Winter Youth Olympics
Gold medal – first place 2020 Lausanne Slopestyle
Junior World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2017 Crans-Montana Halfpipe
Gold medal – first place 2017 Chiesa in Valmalenco Slopestyle
Gold medal – first place 2018 Cardrona Halfpipe
Gold medal – first place 2018 Cardrona Slopestyle
Gold medal – first place 2019 Kläppen Slopestyle
Gold medal – first place 2019 Kläppen Big air
Silver medal – second place 2018 Cardrona Big air
Kelly Sildaru during the qualification for the girls' slopestyle at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics
During the final at the very same place

Kelly Sildaru (Estonian pronunciation: [ˈkelʲˑi ˈsilˑdɑ.ru]; born 17 February 2002) is an Estonian Olympic freestyle skier.

Biography

Sildaru won a gold medal in the slopestyle event in the 2016 Winter X Games beating Tiril Sjåstad Christiansen.[2] With this win, at age 13, Sildaru became the youngest gold medalist to date at a Winter X Games event and the first person to win a Winter X Games medal for Estonia. She is also the youngest to win two X Games gold medals. Sildaru has won the women's slopestyle on the 2015[3] and 2016[4] Dew Tour.

During the Big Air competition of the 2017 Winter X Games Norway, Sildaru became the first woman ever to land a Switch 1260 ° Mute and a 1440° during a competition.[5] Because of her young age, the first World Cup event she was allowed to participate in was on 27 August 2017 in Cardrona, New Zealand. She won the slopestyle competition.[6]

Despite being the gold medal favorite for the women’s slopestyle event in 2018 Winter Olympics, she missed competing in the Games because of a knee injury.[7] However she later recovered and was able to compete in the world championships winning gold in halfpipe.[8] In the 2020 Youth Olympic Games she won a gold medal for the Women's Freestyle Skiing.[9]

During the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, she won a bronze medal in the slopestyle event with her top score of 82.06 in her first run.[10]

Sildaru has been named the female Estonian Athlete of the Year twice (2019, 2022),[11] and is the recipient of a high Estonian state award, the Order of the White Star, 3rd class.[12]

Freestyle skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).[13]

Olympic Games

  • 1 medal – (1 bronze)
 Year   Age   Slopestyle   Halfpipe   Big air 
South Korea 2018 Pyeongchang 15 injured: did not compete
China 2022 Beijing 19 Bronze 4 17

Winter Youth Olympics

  • 1 medal – (1 gold)
 Year   Age   Slopestyle   Halfpipe   Big air 
Switzerland 2020 Lausanne 17 Gold — —

World Championships

See also: FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships
  • 1 medal – (1 gold)
 Year   Age   Slopestyle   Halfpipe   Big air 
United States 2019 Park City 16 CNX Gold —
United States 2021 Aspen 18 injured: did not compete

Junior World Championships

  • 7 medals – (6 gold, 1 silver)
 Year   Age   Slopestyle   Halfpipe   Big air 
Switzerland Italy 2017 14 Gold Gold —
New Zealand 2018 Cardrona 15 Gold Gold Silver
Sweden 2019 Kläppen 16 Gold — Gold

Winter X Games

  • 9 medals – (6 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)
 Year   Age   Slopestyle   Superpipe   Big air 
United States 2016 Aspen 13 Gold — —
United States 2017 Aspen 14 Gold — Silver
United States 2018 Aspen 15 injured: did not compete
United States 2019 Aspen 16 Gold Silver Bronze
United States 2020 Aspen 17 Gold Gold 4
United States 2021 Aspen 18 injured: did not compete
United States 2022 Aspen 19 — Gold —

Winter X Games Europe

  • 1 medal – (1 silver)
 Year   Age   Slopestyle   Superpipe   Big air 
Norway 2016 Oslo 14 — — 4
Norway 2017 Hafjell 15 — — Silver

World Cup results

See also: FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup

Sildaru ended the 2021-2022 World Cup season by winning the FIS World Cup slopestyle title and taking home her first crystal globe.[14]

Season standings

 Season   Age  Overall Slopestyle Halfpipe Big air
2017–18 15 94 21 18 —
2018–19 16 29 10 4 —
2019–20 17 did not compete
2020–21 18 12 19 — 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2021–22 19 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 6 16
2022–23 20 5 2 3 —
Standings through 19 December 2022

Race Podiums

  • 6 wins – (5 SS, 1 HP)
  • 13 podiums – (6 SS, 6 HP, 1 BA)
No. Season Date Location Discipline Place
1 2017–18 27 August 2017 New Zealand Cardrona, New Zealand Slopestyle 1st
2 1 September 2017 New Zealand Cardrona, New Zealand Halfpipe 2nd
3 2018–19 23 November 2018 Austria Stubai, Austria Slopestyle 1st
4 7 December 2018 United States Copper Mountain, USA Halfpipe 1st
5 9 March 2019 United States Mammoth, USA Halfpipe 2nd
6 2020–21 8 January 2021 Austria Kreischberg, Austria Big air 3rd
7 2021–22 20 November 2021 Austria Stubai, Austria Slopestyle 1st
8 10 December 2021 United States Copper Mountain, USA Halfpipe 3rd
9 8 January 2022 United States Mammoth, USA Halfpipe 2nd
10 9 January 2022 United States Mammoth, USA Slopestyle 1st
11 26 March 2022 Switzerland Silvaplana, Switzerland Slopestyle 1st
12 2022–23 19 November 2022 Austria Stubai, Austria Slopestyle 2nd
13 17 December 2022 United States Copper Mountain, USA Halfpipe 3rd

Trivia

Sildaru was honored with a one-of-a-kind Kelly Sildaru Barbie doll on 25 May 2022 as part of Barbie's Dream Gap project.[15][12]

References

  1. ^ "Winter Olympics Bio - Kelly Sildaru". ESPN. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  2. ^ Jason Blevins and David Krause (29 January 2016). "Teen skier Kelly Sildaru becomes youngest Winter X Games gold medalist". The Denver Post. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  3. ^ "13-YEAR-OLD KELLY SILDARU WINS WOMEN'S TOYOTA FREESKI SLOPESTYLE AT DEW TOUR". Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  4. ^ "Kelly Sildaru Skis Away With Women's Ski Slopestyle Pro Competition Win". Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  5. ^ "Kelly Sildaru: väga hea tunne on esimese naisena 1440-kraadine hüpe teha". Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  6. ^ Estonian teenager Kelly Sildaru wins World Cup slopestyle 27 August 2017, stuff.co.nz
  7. ^ "Injury robs Pyeongchang of teen slopestyle phenom Sildaru". Reuters. 10 January 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  8. ^ "Sildaru, Blunck win gold in ski halfpipe at worlds in Utah". sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  9. ^ "Lausanne 2020 | Results". www.lausanne2020.sport. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  10. ^ Molski • •, Max. "Eileen Gu Earns Silver in Freeski Slopestyle; Mathilde Gremaud Wins Gold". NBC Bay Area. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  11. ^ "Kelly Sildaru named Estonian "Athlete of the Year"". www.fis-ski.com. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  12. ^ a b "Barbie Honours Kelly Sildaru With A One-Of-A-Kind Doll In Her Likeness". www.snowindustrynews.com. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  13. ^ "Kelly Sildaru". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  14. ^ Couceiro, Pablo (25 March 2022). "Kelly Sildaru is close to the ridiculous Crystal Globe at the World Cup finals in Freeski".
  15. ^ ERR, ERR, ERR News | (26 May 2022). "Gallery: Estonian skier Kelly Sildaru Barbie unveiled". ERR. Retrieved 30 May 2022.{cite web}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kelly Sildaru.
Awards
Preceded by Estonian Young Athlete of the Year
2016–2020 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Estonian Female Athlete of the Year
2019

2022 		Succeeded by
Ott Tänak & Martin Järveoja
(Athlete of the Year)
Incumbent