{"id":14926,"date":"2018-02-13T17:12:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-13T17:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2018\/02\/13\/aerials-skier-ashley-caldwells-bold-move-a-quadruple-twisting-triple-flip\/"},"modified":"2018-02-13T17:12:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T17:12:00","slug":"aerials-skier-ashley-caldwells-bold-move-a-quadruple-twisting-triple-flip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/aerials-skier-ashley-caldwells-bold-move-a-quadruple-twisting-triple-flip\/","title":{"rendered":"Aerials Skier Ashley Caldwell's 'Bold Move': A Quadruple-Twisting Triple Flip"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Melissa Block<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Ashley Caldwell performs an aerial before the World Cup last February. When she watched aerials for the first time at age 12, she remembers thinking: “Why are these people so crazy?”<\/p>\n

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Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Since she was a little girl, Ashley Caldwell<\/a> has been in constant motion: jumping out of her crib, tumbling off the couch, leaping down stairs, flipping on a trampoline.<\/p>\n

So it seems fitting that now, at 24, Caldwell is the reigning women’s world champion in aerials skiing \u2014 a sport in which she somersaults and spins through the air, some 60 feet off the ground.<\/p>\n

Caldwell is about to compete in her third Olympic Games. Along the way, she’s pushed the boundaries for women in her sport.<\/p>\n

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\n Freestyle skier Ashley Caldwell, shown here in September, began training full-time at age 14.<\/p>\n

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Tom Pennington\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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She won gold at last year’s World Championships by doing something no woman had ever accomplished. She made a successful, clean landing in a quadruple-twisting triple flip: a full, double full, full.<\/a><\/p>\n

“They call it the ‘Daddy’ of all tricks,” Caldwell says. “It is a really big trick. Only two girls have ever done it, and I’m the only one who’s ever landed it, so it’s a bold move.”<\/p>\n

In fact, just a handful of women aerial skiers around the world attempt triple jumps, even those with a much lower degree of difficulty than the Daddy.<\/p>\n

When aerial skiers are flying through the air, the action happens so quickly, it’s a blur. So here’s a step-by-step breakdown of what Caldwell is doing:<\/p>\n