Xu Mengtao of China takes a training run during the ladies' aerials training session for the FIS Freestyle Ski World Championships at Park City Mountain Resort in Park City, Utah, U.S., February 3, 2019. /CFP
Athletes will be flying high at Genting Snow Park on Thursday evening as the freestyle skiing aerials mixed team event debuts at the Winter Olympics, with China among the top contenders for a medal.
The home nation will however come up against past world champions Russia and Switzerland and a strong U.S. team.
Six teams will take part in the competition, which is one of seven new events added to the program at these Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, with Canada and Belarus completing the roster.
The most acrobatic of the freestyle skiing disciplines, aerials sees athletes start down a steep ramp and launch themselves into the air to do a series of twists and flips.
In the mixed team event, each team will be made of three athletes, either two men and one woman, or two women and one man, with individual scores added together for the final result.
With big names like Xu Mengtao, Jia Zongyang and Qi Guangpu, China is well set to take a first ever Olympic gold in mixed team aerials.
An absolute veteran of the sport, Xu won Olympic silver in the women's aerials in 2014, has six world championship medals including gold, has a whopping five World Cup crystal globes in the discipline and is still leading World Cup standings this season at age 31.
Jia, meanwhile, won Olympic silver in PyeongChang on the men's side four years ago, and is also a former crystal globe winner. Teammate Qi has two world golds and two silvers, to go with his two World Cup crystal globes.
Second place finishers Sun Jiaxu, Xu Mengtao and Wang Xindi of China celebrate on the way to the podium followed by gold medal winners Noe Roth, Carol Bouvard and Nicolas Gygax of Switzerland after the mixed team aerial Finals of the FIS Freestyle Ski World Championships at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, U.S., February 7, 2019. /CFP
But while China goes into this competition with the home advantage and having won four of the last six World Cup events, it faces a Russian team that won mixed team gold at world championships just a year ago and features silver and bronze world medallist Liubov Nikitina and 2018 Olympic bronze medallist Ilia Burov.
Switzerland, the 2019 world champions in mixed team, will draw on a young team led by 2020 overall World Cup winner Noe Roth and Pirmin Werner - both of whom were on last year's world silver-winning mixed team.
"We're pretty strong at the moment... the Swiss team at the moment are performing really well, so we're excited," Werner told CGTN of Switzerland's chances during training on Wednesday.
"In the finals, everything can happen... You saw it, three years ago we won the worlds, then last year we got second. I think everything can happen if we go through qualis."
"I think I figured out the ramps and I'm ready for tomorrow!" he added.
Emile Nadeau of Team Canada completes his jump in the men's aerials final during the Intermountain Healthcare Freestyle International Ski World Cup at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, U.S. January 12, 2022. /CFP
The U.S. will field former world champion and overall World Cup winner Ashley Caldwell and 2021 world silver medalist Christopher Lillis, both of whom already won mixed team world bronze last year.
With such pedigree, Thursday night's competition is bound to be a gripping one.
Events with mixed-gender teams have been increasingly added to Olympic programs in recent years.
Besides giving athletes one more go at a medal, they also foster a team atmosphere in otherwise individual sports.
"The rest of the team are going to cheer them at the bottom of the site," Naomy Boudreau-Guertin, who did not make it onto the Canadian team for Thursday, said of her teammates who were competing.
"It's the first time, so we're all excited and the team event is so cool! The vibe is so nice and everyone has fun, it's like you're part of one big team. I'm so excited for this."
Of Canada's chances, she added: "I think we're in the game. Everyone is pretty good, so we just have to learn some good jumps and I think we're in the game."
Christopher Lillis of the U.S. practices before the finals of a World Cup freestyle aerials competition at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, U.S., January 12, 2022. /CFP
Some big names will be missing from the event however, including reigning women's world champion Laura Peel of Australia, as the country failed to have a male athlete qualify.
Still, she welcomed the new event. "It's really exciting for our sport obviously, it gives people more than one opportunity (to win a medal)."
"Aerials can be pretty tough, it can all be over in about three seconds, so (it's) great to have another opportunity."
Mixed team aerials have existed at the World Cup level since 2016 and at the world championships since 2019.
Thursday's competition will be followed by the women's aerials on February 14 and the men's on February 16.
(Reporting from Zhangjiakou)