Pyeongchang, South Korea • Jaelin Kauf is the world’s No. 1-ranked women’s mogul skier, but she was thinking about a different first as she stood at the top of the course at the Phoenix Snow Park on Friday morning.
For the first time, she was competing as an Olympian.
“The nerves for that one are crazy,” she said.
By the time the 21-year-old had reached the bottom of her qualifying run, however, she was pumping her fist and back in her comfort zone. Kauf is moving on to Sunday’s finals, joined by at least two of her teammates, where she will have a chance to compete for her first Olympic medal.
“It’s good to get that first run over with,” she said. “… I definitely had a little more nerves or adrenaline at the top, just kind of getting excited, seeing the big crowd at the bottom.”
New Yorker Morgan Schild qualified third with a score of 77.74, 1.98 points behind the leader Perrine Laffont of France. Kauf’s score of 77.45 was good enough for fifth and Colorado’s Keaton McCargo finished the qualifying round in eighth with a score of 75.67.
On the men’s side, U.S. skier Troy Murphy’s fourth-place result qualified him for a spot in the finals.
For the U.S. women — a talented but young group of first-time Olympians — only 17-year-old Tess Johnson failed to secure a place in the finals. Her 22nd-place finish means she will have to wait until Sunday for a second chance to get into the field of 20 for the medal round.
“I was definitely really nervous at the top,” Johnson said. “More than I’ve been all year. Normally no one shows up for qualifiers. It was surreal [to see the crowd] and it kind of hit me right there.”
Johnson’s first run may have been a bit shaky, but the teenager is confident she will join her teammates in Sunday’s final.
“I think that would be amazing,” she said. “I do believe we are the strongest women’s team in the world right now and I think that would just further prove it.”
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