Kelly Sildaru

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

Kelly Sildaru
Sildaru during the Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland, in January 2020
Country	Estonia
Born	(2002-02-17) 17 February 2002 (age 23) Tallinn, Estonia
Height	5 ft 5 in (165 cm)[1]
World Cup career
Seasons	5 - (2017–2019, 2020–present)
Indiv. starts	15
Indiv. podiums	13
Indiv. wins	6
Overall titles	0
Discipline titles	1 – (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 2022 Beijing Slopestyle World Championships 2019 Utah Halfpipe Winter X Games 2016 Aspen Slopestyle 2017 Aspen Slopestyle 2019 Aspen Slopestyle 2020 Aspen Slopestyle 2020 Aspen Superpipe 2022 Aspen Superpipe 2017 Aspen Big air 2019 Aspen Superpipe 2019 Aspen Big air Winter X Games Europe 2017 Hafjell Big air Winter Dew Tour 2015 Breckenridge Slopestyle 2016 Breckenridge Slopestyle 2018 Breckenridge Slopestyle 2021 Copper Mountain Streetstyle 2021 Copper Mountain Superpipe Winter Youth Olympics 2020 Lausanne Slopestyle Junior World Championships 2017 Crans-Montana Halfpipe 2017 Chiesa in Valmalenco Slopestyle 2018 Cardrona Halfpipe 2018 Cardrona Slopestyle 2019 Kläppen Slopestyle 2019 Kläppen Big air 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

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
2018 Pyeongchang	15	injured: did not compete
2022 Beijing	19	Bronze	4	17

Winter Youth Olympics

• 1 medal – (1 gold)

Year	Age	Slopestyle	Halfpipe	Big air
2020 Lausanne	17	Gold	—	—

World Championships

See also: FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships

• 1 medal – (1 gold)

Year	Age	Slopestyle	Halfpipe	Big air
2019 Park City	16	CNX	Gold	—
2021 Aspen	18	injured: did not compete
2023 Bakuriani	20	injured: did not compete

Junior World Championships

• 7 medals – (6 gold, 1 silver)

Year	Age	Slopestyle	Halfpipe	Big air
2017	14	Gold	Gold	—
2018 Cardrona	15	Gold	Gold	Silver
2019 Kläppen	16	Gold	—	Gold

Winter X Games

• 9 medals – (6 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)

Year	Age	Slopestyle	Superpipe	Big air
2016 Aspen	13	Gold	—	—
2017 Aspen	14	Gold	—	Silver
2018 Aspen	15	injured: did not compete
2019 Aspen	16	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2020 Aspen	17	Gold	Gold	4
2021 Aspen	18	injured: did not compete
2022 Aspen	19	—	Gold	—
2023 Aspen	20	injured: did not compete

Winter X Games Europe

• 1 medal – (1 silver)

Year	Age	Slopestyle	Superpipe	Big air
2016 Oslo	14	—	—	4
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	—
2021–22	19			6	16
2022–23	20	19	14	15	—
2023–24	21	injured: did not compete

Standings through 17 January 2024

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	Cardrona, New Zealand	Slopestyle	1st
2		1 September 2017	Cardrona, New Zealand	Halfpipe	2nd
3	2018–19	23 November 2018	Stubai, Austria	Slopestyle	1st
4		7 December 2018	Copper Mountain, USA	Halfpipe	1st
5		9 March 2019	Mammoth, USA	Halfpipe	2nd
6	2020–21	8 January 2021	Kreischberg, Austria	Big air	3rd
7	2021–22	20 November 2021	Stubai, Austria	Slopestyle	1st
8		10 December 2021	Copper Mountain, USA	Halfpipe	3rd
9		8 January 2022	Mammoth, USA	Halfpipe	2nd
10		9 January 2022	Mammoth, USA	Slopestyle	1st
11		26 March 2022	Silvaplana, Switzerland	Slopestyle	1st
12	2022–23	19 November 2022	Stubai, Austria	Slopestyle	2nd
13		17 December 2022	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]