Kauf Wins, Leads Overall Moguls Standings in Beidahu
Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete Jaelin Kauf is on her way to a historic World Cup season, earning her fourth win in a row and extending her podium streak to nine in the Beidahu moguls event. This is the longest U.S. moguls winning streak since Olympic champion Hannah Kearney won 16 World Cups in a row in the 2011-12 season. Teammate Olivia Giaccio finished in third place, her sixth podium of the season.
The sun was out and the bumps were smooth in Beidahu, Jilin, China, making it for a perfect day of moguls World Cup competition. In the women's qualification round, all six U.S. athletes advanced to the finals. Kauf was the final athlete to drop - coming off two back-to-back wins on home snow in Deer Valley just a week prior, Kauf is riding a high and today, she wanted to keep that streak going. She knew exactly what she needed to do to qualify, and she did that and more. Kauf bested the second-fastest qualification time by over 1.5 points, along with one of the day's highest turns and air scores. Kasey Hogg also advanced to finals ranked fifth, Tess Johnson sixth, Olivia Giaccio 10th, Kylie Kariotis 11th and Kai Owens 14th.
“I feel really good about [my run], I was trying to be one of the fastest girls out there which I feel like I did, and overall, it felt really strong,” said Kauf. “There are a few things to tweak and improve on for finals but I’m stoked to take the top spot in qualies, I feel like I don’t ever do that.”
Nick Page and Charlie Mickel continued to build on their momentum from Deer Valley qualifying into finals ranked fourth and 10th, respectively. Page earned the highest air score in the qualification round, setting himself up nicely for finals. Asher Michel just missed out on the round of 16, finishing the day 19th. Dylan Walczyk was 29th.
As the day continued, the sun began to sink behind the trees, quickly shrouding the course in shade. The bumps became icy, increasing the speed the athletes could achieve in their runs, leading to quicker times as the day progressed.
In finals, Kauf continued her tear with the fastest time to keep her in the top spot heading into super finals. Johnson, with her signature venom grab on the bottom air, earned the largest air score of the day and qualified fourth. Giaccio also advanced in fifth. Hogg barely missed out on advancing to super finals by 0.24 points, finishing seventh overall. Kariotis earned another top 10 and Owens landed in 15th. Page finished the day seventh, followed by Mickel in 11th.
Giaccio was the first U.S. athlete to drop in super finals, and she took every success she had throughout the day and put them together to earn her highest score of the day, finishing third with 78.43 points.
“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in China, but I’m really excited to build my way up and improve every run, so I’m excited to be on the podium,” said Giaccio. “I’m ready to build into tomorrow, I think there’s going to be some very fast runs considering how tight the course is, so I’m looking forward to seeing what I can bring”
Johnson put down another smooth and consistent run to finish fourth, her fifth top-five finish of the season. All of the pressure in the world was on Kauf’s shoulders as she stood atop the course as the last athlete to drop, but you would never know by her performance. She clocked the fastest time of the day, in classic Kauf fashion, and had some of the top turns and air scores. In her pre-finals interview, she said she would hold onto the top spot and that she did, earning her 13th career victory and taking over the overall moguls World Cup standings from Perrine Laffont of France.
“That was the game plan today, just trying to improve a little bit each run and save the best for last, and that’s what I did,” said Kauf. “It was a lot of fun skiing this course today. It’s super exciting [leading the overall], we still have a handful of competitions so I hopefully can hold that spot and keep building on today’s result.”
Next, the moguls athletes take on duals on the same course on Feb. 22 at 1:00 a.m. ET. Tune in live on skiandsnowboard.live.
