Kauf, Giaccio, Marcellini Podium in Deer Valley Duals
On the final night of competition at the 2024 Intermountain Health Freestyle International at Deer Valley, the crowd was roaring and the dual moguls action even better, with three Americans on the podium. Jaelin Kauf took second, Olivia Giaccio third and Dylan Marcellini took home his first career World Cup podium in third place in front of 10,000 cheering fans.
It was a successful three days of competition, highlighted by moguls, aerials and dual moguls events, attracting the best freestyle athletes in the world to Utah. But Saturday was special, with the enormous crowd for duals only getting bigger as the evening progressed. With endless action, tough crashes and the athletes putting it all on the line, the dual moguls competition brought entertainment and thrills.
Going into the first round of dual moguls, it was the round of 64 for men and round of 32 for the women. With the men kicking off the event, an abrupt change of weather conditions nuked snow onto the Champions course, creating a challenging course with heavy, slow snow and extremely limited visibility. As the night continued on, the snow did not let up and the athletes had to adapt.
Going into finals, 11 Americans advanced through to the finals, including eight women and three men. On the men’s side, Marcellini and Nick Page punched their tickets from round to round, and eventually battled each other in the small finals for third place. Both had stellar runs, but a small mistake by Page propelled Marcellini into the third place position, with Page fourth.
It was Marcellini’s first World Cup podium; his previous best dual moguls finish was 15th place. But he had a fourth place in last year’s single moguls, and knew that he could put down on this course. “It means so much to me to be able to do this at home,” said Marcellini. “I got fourth here last year and that was a surreal moment. To be able to top this this year was another step up the ladder and feels great.”
Marcellini had a tough week, having crashed while training and hurt his ribs and hip, but ignored the pain and sent it in front of his friends and family. “It means so much to my mom and my dad and everyone who supported me along this way,” he said. “It’s just awesome to be able to put down a result for them and for everybody that has been there for me, that supported me that believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”
Also making finals, Charlie Mickel finished 14th. Ikuma Horishima of Japan took the win with Benjamin Cavet from France in second.
In the women’s race, the pressure was on, with World Cup overall leader Jakara Anthony of Australia being the one to beat. In the small final, Giaccio dualed Japan’s Hinako Tomitaka, and put down a solid run to just narrowly beat her for the third place position, landing on the podium for the second time this weekend and adding her eighth World Cup podium to her 2023-24 season. Next up was the superfinal, with Kauf dualing Anthony. It was neck and neck down Champions. Kauf, known as the fastest women’s moguls skier in the world, put down a solid run but was unable to beat Anthony, ultimately getting second place. It was Kauf’s ninth podium of the season and 34th overall.
“This is probably my favorite day of the year—duals day at DV is hard to beat,” said Kauf. “To take home two silvers in front of friends and family at Deer Valley is a perfect way to end the weekend. There are so many people coming to support me and it makes it fun. It is super special standing at the top of the course and hearing that crowd.”
Hannah Soar and Kasey Hogg were also in the top 10, with Soar finishing seventh and Hogg eighth. Tess Johnson was 11th, Lulu Shaffer 14th and Liz Lemley 15th. Alli Macuga took a hard crash but is OK and finished 16th.
RESULTS
Women’s dual moguls
Men’s dual moguls
