Team USA announced Tuesday aerialist Chris Lillis qualified for the 2026 Olympics.
This will be Lillis’ second time competing in the Olympics; he brought home a gold medal in the aerials team event at the 2022 Beijing Games. It’s also the second time Lillis is fulfilling a childhood dream.
“It was in things that I'd written in school when I was 6 years old, my mom shows it off all the time,” he told KPCW in the fall. “The biggest thing I remember about being young is I wanted to be an Olympian.”
At the time, Lillis didn’t know what sport he wanted to excel in, just that he was ready to put in the work to become a professional athlete. He landed on aerial skiing thanks to his older brother, Jon, who is also a world champion.
“He went to the 2018 Olympics, and five years older than me was just about perfect to show me exactly how to do everything coming through our teen years,” Lillis said. “He kind of found it first, and I followed along.”
While traveling and training with his brother, Lillis made a name for himself in aerials. He has earned 13 NorAm podium finishes and was the youngest man ever to win a FIS aerials World Cup at 17 years old.
It was his fourth World Cup competition and Lillis said he was just excited to be there. He said the win was a combination of luck and skill. That’s why he feels much more proud of his other wins.
“The World Cups I've won since then were a lot more on purpose,” he said. “[I’m] hoping to have an experience in the Olympics that I can control, that I feel like I can go execute, that I'm happy and comfortable with my plan, and then obviously go chuck the biggest trick I know how to do.”
And Lillis has “chucked” some big tricks. In the 2022 Olympic team event, he made the highest scoring single jump in Olympic history with the most difficult trick in acrobatic skiing: a quintuple-twisting triple flip — that’s five twists and three flips.
According to NBC, the trick was the result of a strategic decision after his teammate had trouble landing the first jump.
“To be able to put it down on that big moment, I mean the elation, I barely even remember it, all I know is I felt like my head was about to pop off,” Lillis said. “That's the kind of thing that gets a little addictive.”
Lillis said he’s been chasing that feeling ever since and is hoping to pull off something impressive during the 2026 Games.
The adrenaline rush is another reason Lillis has stuck with the sport for so long. He’s an 11-year veteran on Team USA and has gone from one of the youngest team members at 16 years old to one of the oldest at 27.
Looking ahead to the Olympics in Italy, he said every athlete is nervous, no matter how much experience they have.
“You'd be insane not to be. You get seven seconds to show your stuff, and that's 20 years of training,” Lillis said. “If it goes your way, it's the best feeling in the world, and it's the highest of the highs, and if it doesn't go your way, it's the lowest of the lows and kind of everything in between.”
To help with the nerves, Lillis said he’s got a great support system, including his parents, brother and teammates.
Outside of skiing, Lillis teaches Park City kids how to play piano and guitar. He’s also studying political science at the University of Utah, but hopes to put off getting a “real” job for as long as possible. Lillis already has plans to train for the 2030 Olympics.
But when the time comes, he has a second dream career in mind: running for public office in his hometown of Rochester, New York.
