An Incredible Day for American Freestyle Skiing
Jaelin Kauf made history on day one of World Cup finals in Livigno as she became the first American to win a FIS Freestyle Crystal Globe since Hannah Kearney in 2015, cementing her legacy with a first place finish at the Olympic Test Event. Charlie Mickel finished on the podium in third place, earning his first career podium along with Tess Johnson in third, who made her 100th World Cup start. Nick Page made a huge jump in the World Cup moguls standings to finish third overall.
“I feel like the emotions are starting to hit me, this is such a fun day, I’m stoked to have my dad, mom and step-dad here - this is incredible,” said Kauf.
The scene was picture perfect in Livigno, Italy, where the top moguls athletes in the world took the course for the World Cup finals. The event, also serving as the test event for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, is the first World Cup held in Livigno since 2000.
In the qualification round, all four Stifel U.S. Ski Team men placed in the top 16 to advance to finals. Mickel qualified sixth, followed by Nick Page in ninth, Dylan Walczyk in 12th, and Asher Michel in 15th. On the women’s side, Kauf qualified in second, Johnson in fourth and Kasey Hogg in 10th. Kylie Kariotis just missed out on finals and finished the day 18th.
The battle began in the round of 16. Perrine Laffont (FRA) qualified in the top spot, meaning Kauf dropped second to last in the finals. Without knowing what Laffont would put down, Kauf needed a fast, clean run to stay level with the French athlete, and she delivered, earning the fastest time score of the day to advance in the top spot. Johnson, one of the most consistent skiers this season, had a monster finals run, earning the top air score of the day with a cork 720 safety grab on the top air and her signature venom grab on the bottom air. Hogg finished the day 11th.
Page improved upon his qualification run, landing fourth place in the finals. After qualifying sixth, Mickel put down the run of his life in the round of 16 to advance in second place, just over one point behind the king Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) and ahead of Ikuma Horishima (JPN). Walczyk finished 10th overall, followed by Michel in 12th.
The accumulation of a season’s worth of work came to fruition in the super finals, where the results of the competition were to determine the mogul Crystal Globe winners. Johnson was the first American to drop, and put down her best run of the day scoring 74.94 and with the highest air score of the round, 15.56. Laffont was the second to last to go and executed a beautiful top to bottom, scoring 77.07. As the last athlete to ski in the super final, Kauf had the pressure of an entire season on her shoulders. Any mistake would take her off the top spot, and give away the moguls Crystal Globe. With a blazing run scoring 18.58 in time, Kauf earned a huge 81.21 to take the win and the globe, with her family screaming and ringing cowbells in the finish.
“With this course you are so cut off from the bottom at the top, so I really didn’t know what happened with the other girl’s run’s, but it’s safe to assume that Perrine put down a really good run so I was just trying to attack the whole way and not leave anything out there,” said Kauf.
“This is so surreal and a little emotional, I feel like every single World Cup start that I’ve had, all 100 of them, shaped who I am on and off the hill and to be on this journey with everyone here is just so special,” said Johnson.
Page and Mickel continued to fire in super finals where Page finished just off the podium in fourth place. Mickel shined bright, earning 80.14 in the super finals to land on his first career podium in third place behind legends Ikuma Horishima and Mikael Kingsbury. Page’s fourth place finish secured him a spot on the overall moguls podium in third place.
“It feels great to get my first podium at the Olympic test event going into next year,” said Mickel. “It [2025] will be my first World Championships and I’m really excited to be competing in the event, no expectations I just hope to ski my best.”
“I’m very excited, it was a goal coming into the last stretch of the season to really try to make an end of the season push, get a couple more points under my name and get on to this overall podium because I knew it was in striking distance,” said Page.
