Five-time Olympian Qi looks to five twists for Aerials glory

It has been more than a year since Qi Guangpu (CHN) stood atop an Aerials podium, yet few would bet against that happening on Thursday.

The 35-year-old’s buildup to the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games has been geared towards achieving peak form at Livigno Aerials & Moguls Park.

In December 2025, he ended a nine-month World Cup podium drought — a lengthy spell by his standards, with 46 top-three finishes from 87 starts — at the Secret Garden Resort in China. Qi, who had taken some time away from the sport, earned a silver at the site where his back double full-full-double full landed Beijing 2022 gold. He then took bronze at Lake Placid in January.

They were reminders of what he is capable of on his fifth Olympic appearance. The defending champion is the only man in the 25-strong field who has been on the Olympic podium at this event.

Teammates Sun Jiaxu and Li Tianma (CHN) will be part of the Chinese charge, with the trio finishing the 2025/26 season in the top three spots in the World Cup standings. Sun was the Crystal Globe winner ahead of Li, with Qi remaining on four Crystal Globes.

Dmytro Kotovskyi (UKR), fourth in the World Cup standings, interrupted China’s dominance as Wang Xindi (CHN) finished in fifth ahead of his third Olympic Games.

Kotovskyi has landed the five-twist jump in competition, winning a World Cup in Lac-Beauport last month, and is one to watch.

Switzerland’s Noe Roth and Pirmin Werner, like Qi, Sun and Kotovskyi, have the five-twist trick in their bag.

Roth stomped the back double full-double full-full for 130.05 points and World Cup gold in Livigno in March 2025 and returns to a happy hunting ground. Seventeen days after that Livigno success, Roth repeated the trick on home snow in St. Moritz, earning a record 143.31 points en route to retaining his World Championships title.

Werner settled for bronze in St. Moritz behind Quinn Dehlinger (USA), who took silver for the second straight World Championships. Christopher Lillis (USA) is another American with experience and major honors, having claimed silver at the 2021 World Championships.

Men’s Aerials Qualification 1 begins at 11:00 CET tomorrow, with the top six progressing to the Final 1. The remaining athletes will battle for another six final spots in Qualification 2 at 11:45. The finals get underway at 14:00.