[Secret Garden Snow Park] Across continents and onto Olympic ground, Ashton Salwan navigates a compressed 2025 World Cup stop in Beijing — advancing to finals and earning his first World Cup podium.
Competing on Olympic Ground
Some trips mark more than distance.Secret Garden, China — the freestyle venue from the 2022 Winter Olympics — sat on the far edge of the early season, both geographically and mentally. For Ashton Salwan, it marked his first competition in this part of the world and another step into what the World Cup circuit demands at its highest level: adaptation, patience, and trust in work built long before arrival.
There was little room to ease into it. Unfamiliar terrain, compressed preparation, and immediate consequence shaped the stop from the start. Comfort was never the assignment. Commitment was.
Two Days to Lock In
Three travel days from Scandinavia left little runway once Secret Garden came into view. Only two official training days remained before competition began.
No extended ramp-up. No margin for excess repetition.
With the individual event scheduled for December 20 and Team Aerials the following day, athletes had to move quickly from familiarity to commitment — finding speed, line, and timing through preparation rather than volume.
Formats like this reward discipline long before arrival.
A Different Judging Environment
At Secret Garden, judging returned to an on-site format.
Landings were seen live. Takeoffs were evaluated without delay. The rhythm of competition felt more deliberate than many early-season stops — fitting for a venue that once carried Olympic consequence.
For athletes, the difference is subtle but real. The standard doesn’t change, but the way it arrives does.
FIS Ski World Cup Tour 2025/26
- Dual Role: 2026 Olympic Qualifier
- Discipline: Freestyle Aerials (Men)
- Dates: December 20–21, 2025
- Location: Zhangjiakou, China
- Venue: Secret Garden Snow Park
- 2-Day Format:
- Dec 20: Individual Competition
- Dec 21: Team Competition (3 athletes)
Ashton moved through qualification and into the Top 12, finishing 10th overall— his highest World Cup finish to date and one of only two U.S. men to reach finals at this event.
He opened with a bFFF, scoring 108.54, then increased difficulty in Finals 1 with a bFdFF (88.05).
The jump did not carry him into the super final, but the stop still marked a meaningful step forward early in the season: a Top 10 result on Olympic terrain, earned through composure, adaptability, and the ability to execute when conditions narrowed.
Not everything shows up in a placement.
“Every venue asks something different. This one required patience and commitment early, and that’s something I’ll carry forward.”
~Ashton Salwan
Mixed Team: USA-2
The next day, the Mixed Aerials Team event unfolded without qualification — a single final of ten teams followed by a medal round of four.
There was no easing into the day.
Competing for USA-2 alongside Connor Curran and Kaila Kuhn, Ashton helped the team advance to the medal round and secure third place, earning his first FIS World Cup podium.
It was a meaningful result — not only as a first podium at this level, but as part of a shared performance built through trust, timing, and the willingness to deliver when the window opens.
Team events rarely follow a clean script. They ask athletes to commit fully, absorb uncertainty, and perform for one another inside compressed moments.
This one asked for all of it.
Looking Ahead
With two early-season World Cups complete, the tour shifted back toward North America.
Secret Garden now sits as part of the foundation — another unfamiliar venue navigated, another competitive environment absorbed, and another meaningful marker added to the season’s arc.
Results like this rarely announce themselves loudly. They accumulate.
And over time, they shape what comes next.
The road doesn’t announce itself.
It just keeps moving.
