Back-to-Back Silver for Kauf at World Championships
Jaelin Kauf is silver again at the Freestyle World Ski Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia, after taking the second spot in dual moguls. Kauf left nothing on the snow and gave it her all in the big final, battling France’s Perrine Laffont until the end.
“That last run against Perrine was [the most fun] I’ve had in such a long time,” she said. “I could just tell we were neck-and-neck the whole way down. That’s exactly what you want for one and two.
“To be on the podium two days back to back made for a really fun World Champs and event here in Bakuriani. I was definitely going for the gold both days but I’ll settle for second. I wanted to just go out and ski my run all day and leave nothing out there, and I didn’t.”
Sunday’s medal makes four career World Championships medals for the 26 year old. It was a podium repeat of Saturday with Laffont taking gold and Austria’s Avital Carroll with the bronze.
Hannah Soar had a grueling bracket, dueling every other American woman to make it to the small final. She met Olivia Giaccio in the round of 16 and Elizabeth Lemley in the quarterfinals.
“We qualified 2, 3, 4, 5 yesterday so arguably some of the hardest people to duel in the event, regardless of it being team versus team,” Soar commented. “I was excited to lay down those first two duels with Olivia and Liz and have them lay down their great runs too. Definitely nail-biters.”
Soar went against Carroll in the small final for the battle of the bronze but didn’t have the speed to ski over the line first, and ended the day in fourth - her career-best World Championships result.
“Versus Avital, I gave it my all but was just a little too slow to pull off that bronze today,” said Soar. “But it was exciting to be out there and I definitely gave it my best. And I had a whole cheering squad here from Vermont, and it was awesome to make the final four with them here.”
Lemley ended the day in fifth in her dual moguls World Championships debut and Giaccio placed ninth - topping her best World Champs finish from Saturday.
Nick Page was the top American man, ending the day in seventh - his career best World Championships finish. Page bested Finland’s Simi Salonen in the round of 16 but met Australia’s Matt Graham in the quarterfinals. It was a tight duel but Graham advanced, and eventually went on to earn bronze. Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury won, making history with his sixth consecutive World Championships gold, remaining undefeated in World Championship competition since 2019. Sweden’s Walter Wallberg took silver.
Dylan Marcellini finished 12th in his dual moguls World Championships debut. Dylan Walczyk finished 18th and Cole McDonald finished 21st in his first dual moguls World Championships.
Moguls now breaks until World Cup Finals in Kazakhstan in March.
