Estonian freestyle skier Kelly Sildaru, winner of the 2017 Piotr Nurowski Prize, continues to impress also at global level, as she clinched a gold medal in slopestyle at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Lausanne on 18 January 2020.

The 17-year-old earned 91.25 points in the first run and raised the bar even higher when scoring 93.75 points in the second run and 71.50 points in the final run.

“I’m really happy because this is my first Olympic gold medal,” said Sildaru, who missed the PyeongCheong 2018 Olympic Winter Games through injury. “It was awesome to put my runs down. I think this experience will definitely help me in Beijing.”

Born in Tallinn, Kelly has been competing at professional level since 2011. At age 13, she became the youngest gold medallist at a Winter X Games event, winning a gold medal in the slopestyle in 2016. She is also the only woman to win two X Games gold medals.

The young talented girl is considered a star in her country and was indeed named Estonian Young Athlete of the Year twice, in 2016 and in 2019.

She was awarded the Piotr Nurowski Prize Best European Winter Young Athlete during the EOC seminar gala following a vote from the 50 NOCs of Europe in Skopje, North Macedonia on 19 May 2017.