Jaelin Kauf wins first moguls crystal globe hat-trick in U.S. history
Rudi Garmisch/FIS Freestyle
For years, Jaelin Kauf has been universally recognized as the fastest mogul skier on the planet. Now, she is unequivocally the best.
On Tuesday, she became the keeper of all three World Cup crystal globes — a trio of trophies handed out to the best singles, duals and overall moguls performers of the World Cup season.
“It’s been a long time working at that goal,” Kauf explained. “I have come in second a lot of years, and it is amazing to have all the pieces come together, win all three globes across the board and be the undisputed best in the world.”
Kauf, an alumni of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club and a Steamboat Springs High School graduate, had already become the duals and overall season champion at the event in Almaty, Kazakhstan a week ago.
On Tuesday, her fate for the coveted hat-trick would come down to her Super Final run in Livigno, Italy.
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Only six World Cup points separated Kauf from French skier Perrine Laffont for the singles trophy. Whoever put down the better run would take the singles crown.
“Pressure was definitely on in that run. In the start gate I was telling myself to be strong and commit all the way through,” Kauf said, acknowledging she could not see Laffont’s run ahead of her but was confident it was great. “I was trying to commit everything throughout that run as much as possible to leave as little to the judges as I possibly could.”
To no surprise, Kauf’s run of 24.7 seconds was the fastest by over a full second and her points for aerials and turns down the bumps separated her even further from the rest of the pack. She was victorious.
Kauf’s mother, father and step-father were all in attendance to witness history. This was the first time any American has won all three moguls crystal globes in a single World Cup season.
To make things even more special, Kauf achieved it at a venue her father competed at in the 1980s on the World Cup circuit.
Kauf grew up in a freestyle moguls family. Her parents were both mogul skiers and her older brother followed suit, taking an interest in skiing the bumps.
Naturally, Kauf wanted to take part as well. The only issue is, growing up skiing at Grand Targhee Resort in Wyoming, there were no moguls courses to be skied.
Ultimately, Kauf found herself in Steamboat Springs in 2010 as a freshman at the local high school. She said the skier’s schedule was perfect in town, seamlessly letting her balance school and training with SSWSC.
She chose moguls as her No. 1 focus in life after high school.
“It was the sport that combined all other aspects of skiing — the jumps, turns and speed — all into just one run as quick as you can make it,” Kauf said. “That year I decided to commit to moguls skiing and put everything into making it happen.”
Kauf took a year off from schooling after high school to chase a spot on the U.S. Ski Team. She did not quite have the season she hoped but the following December, she took a spot on the team and began competing on the World Cup circuit.
Her first podium? A bronze medal at Deer Valley in 2016 where she had been training with the U.S. team. Her first win came the following season in Japan.
In the decade since, Kauf has been a consistent force on the World Cup podium. The one thing to elude her was a crystal globe.
In the 2023-24 season, Kauf felt she missed out on the coveted trophy due to peaking with her finals run and then having small hiccups in the super final. That was not the case this season.
Kauf managed to build throughout each World Cup event this year, putting down strong qualification runs and only improving through the super final. Part of that success is due to her mindset. The other part is thanks to a small change she made to her aerial package.
In years past, Kauf would often throw a back mute on her top air and ski into a cork 720 on her bottom air.
“This year I flip-flopped those and got the cork-7 to the top air,” Kauf said, who admitted she was more comfortable skiing into the bottom air with a back mute instead of a cork-7.
“With the (back mute), I can adjust a lot more in the air with that trick, which I couldn’t really do with my cork-7,” she said. “Coming in with a lot of speed on my cork-7, however I hit it off the jump, it was going to go however it was going to go. Sometimes I came through a little bit and didn’t land how I wanted it to. With the back mute, I can hold onto that position longer to really put it right to my toes and exactly where I want to in landing.”
The simple, yet effective, adjustment is a huge part of why Kauf sits atop the throne today, surrounded by crystal globes.
“They are such timeless, beautiful trophies and I’ve been seeing them handed out a lot of years in a row,” Kauf said. “Now I have the challenge of figuring out how to bring them all home and pack around all this luggage, but it’s not the worst problem to have.”
After opening the World Cup season with a 10th and fourth place finish, Kauf would never miss a podium again. She won eight of the 16 events this year, taking home five silver medals as well as a bronze.
And Kauf’s season is not even over yet.
Following a brief celebration earlier this week, Kauf quickly had to refocus and prepare for the Freestyle World Ski Championships in St. Mortiz/Engadin, Switzerland, beginning March 18.
“We definitely had a good time celebrating post-event the other night but now the focus has shifted to World Championships and this next event,” Kauf said. “Walking out of here carrying a lot of hardware to World Champs is a big confidence boost for that event. I’m sitting in a really good position and feeling really good about my skiing.”
This story is from SteamboatPilot.com
