Kauf fifth in Mont Tremblant World Cup

Six U.S. athletes qualified for finals in Saturday’s FIS Freestyle World Cup moguls event in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.) was the only American to advance to the super final, finishing in fifth.

Perrine Laffont of France topped the podium for the women, followed by Australia’s Jakara Anthony in second, and Canada’s Justine Dufour-Lapointe in third. For the men, Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury skied to a home-town victory, followed by Japan’s Ikuma Horishima in second and Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Reikherd in third.

The American women had a strong showing, with five qualifying for finals. Tess Johnson (Vail, Colo.), Olivia Giaccio (Redding, Conn.) and Hannah Soar (Somers, Conn.) were all a stone’s throw away from skiing in the finals, finishing in seventh, ninth and 10th, respectively. Soar had a career-best, with her first World Cup top-10 finish.

“To see Hannah come up to the top 10 was sweet. She started putting her run together yesterday in training and it’s awesome to see her ski up to her potential,” commented Head U.S. Moguls Coach Matt Gnoza.

Brad Wilson (Butte, Mont.) lead the men, qualifying in ninth and finishing in 14th overall. Casey Andringa (Boulder, Colo.) finished 18th but jumped well.

“We didn’t have the results we hoped for today by it was good progress leading into World Championships,” said Gnoza.

The moguls' team heads back to home snow for the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, presented by Toyota, taking place at Deer Valley Resort, Utah, Feb. 1-10. Teams will be announced on January 29.

RESULTS
Men’s moguls
Women’s moguls