Winter Olympics Freestyle Skiing Competitor from Ashburn

The 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi will be getting extra attention from the Ashburn area, with former local Ashley Caldwell expected to compete in the Women's Aerials.

A 2010 Olympics veteran, Caldwell currently lives in Lake Placid, N.Y. But the die-hard Washington football fan often shares her support for the Redskins from her Twitter account, @AshleySkis.

The Ladies Aerials competition is scheduled for Feb. 14 in Sochi.
See the full Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games schedule. 
See complete TV schedule for Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

According to her U.S. Ski Team profile, Ashley was a competitive gymnast in Northern Virginia before getting hooked on aerial skiing.

Caldwell is setting the bar high for herself at the games, hoping to secure the gold with a move usually reserved for male aerialists, according to an interview with The Washington Post last month.

"She’s one of few female aerialists in the world who can land a triple somersault and knows winning gold next month might require a difficult trick that calls for four twists and three flips, a jump that until recently was reserved solely for male competitors," writes Post reporter Rick Maese. "Caldwell is one of only three women in the world who can pull off the trick — the only American woman — though she has yet to land one in competition this year."

In January, Caldwell told The Associated Press that she's not the fearless 16-year-old from the 2010 Olympics, particularly after a series of knee injuries pulled her away from competitions for nearly two years.

"I know I'm scared," she said. "But you try and constantly take all the things that you've done to help you understand that you don't need to be scared and apply them, but it's still scary."