Caldwell was a competitive gymnast for 11 years at Apex Gymnastics in Virginia before she watched Olympic skiing on TV and thought it would be “totally awesome” to try aerials. After only three years of aerials training, Caldwell made the U.S. Ski Team at a Selection Event in the beginning of the 2010 season and then went on to have what can only be described as a stellar rookie season.

In 2010, at 16 years old, Caldwell put the aerials world on notice as she claimed top 15 results in her first three World Cup competitions, finished 10th at the Olympics and claimed a silver medal at the U.S. National Championships, a feat she repeated in 2011. She earned her first two podiums during the 2011 season, including a victory at her beloved Lake Placid, with only four World Cup competitions under her belt.

A series of knee injuries have left Caldwell off the competition circuit, but she’ll be back for 2014 and is hungry to prove she’s stronger than ever.

FIRST TRACKS

After Caldwell’s 11 years of gymnastics training, aerials came naturally. “The strength and acrobatic skills I acquired as a gymnast really translated well into my skiing career,” she says. At age 13, watching the 2006 Winter Games on TV inspired her to switch from recreational skiing to freestyle competition. A trip to the Lake Placid water ramps to train alongside the U.S. Ski Team in the summer of 2007 proved fateful. After a summer at the pool at Waterville Valley Ski Academy, she took it to the snow and was invited to join Dmitriy Kavunov's Elite Aerial Program. Two years later she joined the U.S. Ski Team, became an Olympian and was named the FIS women's aerials Rookie of the Year.

OFF THE SNOW

According to Caldwell, she is kind of a math and science geek. “I love school more than any one I know. That might be because online school allows me to go whenever I want,” she says. “I love going to the beach with my family.”