Kauf, Soar Second and Third in Thaiwoo Duals

In the second day of FIS Moguls World Cup competition in Thaiwoo, China, the Americans showed up and brought the heat to duals, claiming two medals. Jaelin Kauf led the way with a second place and Hannah Soar came in third—a career-first podium for the East Coast ripper. They shared the podium with France’s Perrine Laffont, who won her third-straight World Cup. Tess Johnson rounded out the U.S. women with a fifth-place finish.

The U.S. pulled a tough draw for the first dual of the season: Nick Page faced Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury in the first preliminary round, Alex Lewis dualed Japan’s Ikuma Hiroshima in the second preliminary round and the women would friendly fire in the quarter-final. But despite the setup, the athletes fought hard to pull it together and turn their momentum around from what was a tough start to their World Cup season.

Tess and Hannah found themselves face to face at the top gate during the quarter-final. It was a dual to the finish, Hannah won by just under a point. In the semifinal, Hannah again encountered a friendly face, with Jaelin in the gate next to her. “I tried to take Jaelin down really hard,” she joked. “But no, Jaelin is a really great competitor and so I just tried to stick to my run and not get in my head that Jaelin is one of the fastest women in the world.” Jaelin advanced to the big final and Hannah skied against Japan’s Kisara Sumiyoshi in the small. Hannah laid down a beautiful run and came out victorious to earn her first World Cup podium.

“It’s always a little bit of a bummer having to dual teammates just because you hope that that happens for one and two,” said Jaelin. “But it’s always kind of fun standing at the top and the bottom with your teammate. Hannah’s having a great year, she’s a great competitor so I just tried to ski my run out there and do my best.”

Jaelin battled Perrine for the top spot, but a mistake cost her in the middle section, and she ended the day in second. “Yesterday was a really tough day but also reminded me to ski my run and stick to that and I’ll be good,” she said of her first podium of the season. “I just came out today looking to have some fun with duals, I love skiing duals and just did what I know I can do.”

Jesse Andringa had a career-best 10th place finish, skiing a world-class run against Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury in the round of eight. Jesse kept his nerve from top to bottom and pushed Kingsbury to the very end of the line, narrowly missing him. “Hopefully Jesse can take that run and continue to move forward as the season goes,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Head Moguls Coach Matt Gnoza. “He really showed he belongs here with that run.”

In their first-ever dual moguls World Cup competitions both Nick Page and Alex Lewis faced off the two men in yellow bibs – Mikael and Ikuma (after Saturday’s competition Mikael and Ikuma were tied for the top spot). Nick warmed Kingsbury up for Jesse, and before leaving the gates slammed his skis letting Mikael know he was coming for him one day. Before leaving it all on the snow, Alex exchanged a first bump with Ikuma, and pushed his hardest to catch him. What was shaping up to be an epic battle between Mikael and Ikuma did not pan out as Ikuma got knocked out of the big final to end the day in third. Kingsbury won his second World Cup of the season and France’s Ben Cavet came in second.

“Today was a good turnaround for the team,” said Matt. “We will carry our momentum in January from tonight. We had three women that grew up on skis in the top five today. They’re skiers, they went out and did what they do, and they got a couple podiums for us. I’m happy with that turnaround and happy with the momentum change.”

The U.S. Moguls Team returns home on Monday, weather permitting (there’s a rare snow-storm warning for the Beijing airport, so keep your fingers crossed it stays open), after a long six weeks on the road. The next World Cup is set for January 25, 2020, in Tremblant, Canada. The team will spend the majority of January training on home snow in Colorado, working on what needs tweaking to ski better and stronger for the rest of the season.

“I’m really looking forward to the next portion of the season,” said Matt. “It’s been six weeks on the road, but it ended on a pretty special day so it was worth it. If I had to start these six weeks again tomorrow and have the same ending, you bet I would.”