ZHANGJIAKOU, China – This time, Jaelin Kauf treated every run as if it were a super final. No holding back, no playing it conservatively, and definitely not too much thinking. In 2018, she couldn’t really appreciate that there were no breaks, no moments to ease off. She knew it now. Every run was a run on to itself. It was time to be in the moment.
That approach led the 25-year-old to attack the course so much that it came naturally in her final run of the Beijing Winter Olympics, racing downhill in 26.37 seconds with a big backflip mute grab on the top jump. Her score of 80.28 earned the silver medal in women’s moguls Sunday night at the Secret Garden Olympic Moguls Course.
It was Team USA’s second medal of the day; the other was Julia Marino in snowboarding slopestyle, also coming from the mountain zone more than 100 miles away from Beijing.
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Kauf was a blur down the moguls to make up for the tiniest shortcomings.
“I knew that there were a few mistakes in there,” said Kauf. “Like it wasn’t a flawless run. And I just didn’t know what the judges were going to do with that. I kinda had like, a little arch thing on the bottom air. And didn’t know if I sold it enough on the landing.
“When I realized that I was getting an Olympic medal I was just proud and just in awe of it all.”
Australia’s Jakara Anthony led the field with a gold medal performance of 83.09. Anastasiia Smirnova of Russia took bronze.
It was a stellar night overall for the American women freeskiers, who advanced four from the original field of 20 to the second round of 12. This close-knit team all rooted for one another.
Hannah Soar said the team feels like sisters to her and that she has a unique rapport with Kauf. There’s almost a bit of sibling rivalry there in practice.
Soar gave the play-by-play at the base of the course during Kauf’s final run.
“I’m looking for Jaelin to ski as fast as humanely possible,” said Soar as Kauf came out of the gate. “And make as little mistakes as she can. … She messed up a little on top air – which makes me nervous. But Jaelin can make up for that in time – which … (she pauses three seconds) she basically just did.
Kauf’s Round 2 run was also on fire. She cruised down the slope in 26.49 seconds, earning her the score of 80.12.
“I definitely felt pretty in control for all my runs,” said Kauf. “Probably the least in control was the last one, honestly, I missed the first turn coming off of top air, coming in pretty fast out of there.”
Kauf talked to the media before she even had the chance to check in at home. Her mother, Patti Kauf-Melehes, was a two-time Pro Mogul Tour champion and took three bronze medals in Ski Cross at the Winter X Games. Her father, Scott Kauf, was a five-time Pro Mogul Tour champion.
But their advice has really been in the form of support and encouragement – not technical – which helped Kauf improve her seventh-place finish from four years ago.
“The biggest takeaway from the last Olympics going into this Olympics, it was just a whole different experience and I felt so much more prepared for it,” said Kauf. “I did think I had to ski my very best every run to qualify, and back then it was skiing more like, just to make it to the next round. For these Games, I ski to win every single round. I wanted to walk away with absolutely no regrets in my skiing and just put it all out there.”
Women’s moguls features a combination of speed, skill and acrobatics, racing downhill in less than 30 seconds to complete the 28-degree downslope course. Seven judges base their scores 60% on mogul turn technique, 20% on speed and 20% on the quality of the jumps.
Kauf’s silver was the seventh Olympic medal for the U.S. in women’s moguls overall, equaling the record by a national Olympic committee in a single freestyle skiing event. China has seven in women’s aerials.
In the nine times the event has been held, the U.S. has only missed the podium in 1998, 2006 and 2018.
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