Amid a wave of Chinese excellence at the aerials World Cup event at Secret Garden in China, Americans Kaila Kuhn, Connor Curran, and Ashton Salwan — competing as Team USA's No. 2 squad — emerged on the podium to place 3rd in the mixed team event.

Kuhn skied first in the superfinal, completing a steady full-full for 85.99 points to give her team a strong start. Salwan performed a full-double full-full for the team's second run, although it was underrotated, causing him to fall face-forward in the snow upon landing and earn just 68.14 points. Curran went third, completing a clean full-double full-full for 113.28 points to help put the U.S. (at 267.41 total points) ahead of Australia for a 3rd-place finish.

Team USA's No. 1 squad — consisting of Winter Vinecki, Chris Lillis, and Quinn Dehlinger — placed 5th in the first run of the final after Dehlinger overrotated and fell backward on his landing, leaving them not quite high enough to qualify them for the superfinal.

Although the U.S. nabbed a spot on the podium, it was China that impressed throughout the competition. Both Chinese teams scored well over 40 points above the U.S. during the superfinal, competing to see who would be the first to break 300 points. After these performances, it's clear that China will continue to be a strong force in mixed team aerials this season.

China's first team — made up of Olympic champion Xu Mengtao, World Cup leader Li Tianma, and Olympic champion Qi Guangpu — were the day's top scorers with a total score of 315.35 points in the superfinal. All three skiers scored above 100 points in the opening round, putting on a strong showing which they replicated in the superfinal. Xu landed a full-full-full for 109.47 points before Li overrotated his double full-full-full and landed on the back end of his skis, nearly falling backward, for 95.47 points. Qi saved his team with a near perfect double full-full-full for 110.41 points. 

"It's very exciting because four years ago, we got the silver medal in the Olympic Games," Xu said after their win. "Today, we did it. We got the gold medal. Team China won, and our Team China 2 did very, very good. I’m so proud of my teammates and myself."

The victory was bittersweet for Qi, whose family and daughter watched him win on the very same site where he lost the Olympic gold medal in the mixed team event four years ago.

Chen Meiting, Wang Xindi, and Sun Jiaxu made up China's second team, which finished in 2nd place with 308.49 points. Chen landed a full-full-full for 106.03 points, while Wang landed a double full-full-full for 111.31 points. It looked as though China's second team would be claiming victory after the second jumps, especially after Li's unsteady landing followed Wang's run. However, Sun overrotated his full-double full-full, landing on the back of his skis, and was unable to stop himself from falling backward. His run scored just 91.15 points. 

The advantage of home turf, as well as home support, brought out a brilliance in the Chinese skiers. In addition to the mixed team event, China also dominated both individual competitions, finishing one-two in the men's competition and earning a clean sweep of the women's podium.

In the men's event, Li won with a flawless back double full-double full-full for 128.01 points in the superfinal. Qi placed 2nd with a back full-double full-full for 120.80 points, while Switzerland's Noe Roth earned 3rd with 110.67 points after a fall back on his landing while attempting the same jump. 

Li is now at the top of the World Cup standings, leading Ukraine's Oleksandr Okipniuk by 45 points. Dehlinger placed 5th, while Salwan took 10th. Curran and Lillis did not place within the top 12 spots needed to qualify for the superfinal.

Kong Fanyu (CHN) captured her first World Cup victory in four years with a back full-full-full earning her 102.17 points in the women's superfinal. Chen placed 2nd (97.45) after an overrotation had her falling backwards on her landing, while Xu finished 3rd (97.02) with a slightly unsteady landing on her run. Xu remains at the top of the World Cup standings, with Chen sitting 20 points behind her and Kong now in 3rd. 

Four American women made it through to the superfinal, with Kuhn and Vinecki finishing 7th and 8th respectively. Americans Dani Loeb (11th) and Kyra Dossa (12th) took the last two places in the superfinal.

The Freestyle World Cup resumes the first week of January with individual aerials competitions in Lac-Beauport, Canada.