Two more athletes have qualified for the Winter Olympics, both in aerials. Boise’s Jeret “Speedy” Peterson and Utah’s Lacy Schnoor.

Vancouver will be the third Olympics for Peterson and the first for Schnoor.

From the U.S.  Ski Team:

It was a Christmas come early for Jeret “Speedy” Peterson (Boise, ID) and Lacy Schnoor (Draper, UT) as they flipped and twisted their way to a nomination for the U.S. Olympic Team in aerials at Olympic Trials in Steamboat on Christmas Eve.

“I can’t believe that I’m going to go to the Olympics and I can’t wait to represent our country. I hope I go out there and do well,” Schnoor said.

Schnoor laid out a double-full, full, which is two flips with two twists on her first flip and one on her second, and full, double-full, which is a full twist on her first flip and two twists on her second. The double full full, however, happened to be a jump she had only first landed on snow a day prior.

“That was my fifth one on snow ever, so I am so glad I landed it,” Schnoor said. “The first one yesterday – I was nervous, but I’m actually more comfortable doing that trick than full double full, so I’m glad I did it and I’ll be happy to continue doing it.”

Schnoor said going in to the competition she knew she had a shot to take the win, but needed a little perfection to earn the spot. Despite taking a little tumble while celebrating her second jump, Schnoor kept everything upright for the day.

“I knew I had a good chance this year. I had a really good summer of training and I started doing well last year. In the competition I knew it was going to be close and that second jump had to be perfect,” Schnoor said. “I’m just really happy it all came together.”

Backing up Schnoor on the podium was second place finisher Ashley Caldwell (Lake Placid, NY) who only made the U.S. Team a week ago after her success at U.S. Selection events.

“It hasn’t really set in yet. I was surprised to be that far ahead, but I’m just excited to be here and hopefully later in the season I’ll make it to the Olympics,” Caldwell said. “I knew that I was maybe coming, but I found out officially three days ago.”

The young athlete grew up as a gymnast and has only been training aerials for the past three years, but says the sport is a good fit for her.

“I thought it was totally awesome. I had been skiing for a long time and it fit. I’m really excited to be here,” Caldwell said.

On the men’s side, Speedy, who threw double full, full, full, which is three flips with four twists, and full, double full, full, which is one twist on the first flip, two twists on the second, and one on the third. He couldn’t be happier to be heading to another winter Olympics after achieving the third highest score of his career.

“I’m really excited this time. It’s a lot more pressure than it ever has been before,” Peterson said. “I was really excited with my jumps today. It’s been a big hectic week traveling to and from China, so I am happy I could perform the way I did.”

According to Peterson, the pressure was turned on because he wanted to be sure he didn’t miss one of his last opportunities to get to the Olympics.

“I think it’s personal pressure that I’m putting on myself, but I know that I’m not 21 anymore. I’m 28 years old, and I’m not going to be doing this until I’m 60,” Peterson said. “It’s getting down to the wire and I’m doing everything that I can to end up on the podium.”

As for whether or not he’ll attempt to do the Hurricane at the Games again, Speedy says he continues to plan on going all out no matter what the cost.

“I’ve learned so many lessons with everything. With Torino, maybe I shouldn’t have gone for the Hurricane. Maybe I should have stepped it down and ended up on the podium,” Peterson said. “But that’s not my personality. I’m still going for it and I’m going to give it my best every single day. That’s the only way I know how to do things.”

Following up Peterson in second was Dylan Ferguson (Amesbury, MA) who was totally satisfied with what were two spectacular competition jumps for him.

“I’m not disappointed at all. I landed two of the best jumps I’ve done all year and that’s awesome for me,” Ferguson said.

As for his plans in the coming week, training on snow in Park City will be a key component for Ferguson as he looks to go to Vancouver.

“I’m going to get some training in there next week. I’m going to do my first double full, full full on snow and hopefully be competing with Speedy and Ryan [St. Onge] here,” Ferguson said.

Fans can tune in to watch the excitement of Olympic Trials Dec. 26 on NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET. Check out videos of the athletes in Steamboat here.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 Olympic Trials
Steamboat Springs, CO – Dec. 24, 2009
Aerials

Men
1. Jeret Peterson, Boise, ID, 258.21
2. Dylan Ferguson, Amesbury, MA, 231/23
3. Ryan St. Onge, Winter Park, CO, 206.74
4. Nevin Brown, Streetsboro, OH, 201.63
5. Scotty Bahrke, Tahoe City, CA, 196.05
6. Matt DePeters, Hamburg, NY, 166.94

Women
1. Lacy Schnoor, Draper, UT, 177.83
2. Ashley Caldwell, Lake Placid, NY, 174.57
3. Emily Cook, Belmont, MA, 168.14
4. Jaime Myers, Boise, ID, 141.91
5. Jana Lindsey, Black Hawk, SD, 128.38
6. Allison Treleaven, Fort Wayne, IN, 95.38