Olympics
The American women have brought it home today, with not just one, but two medals, with a gold and silver for Team USA. 20-year-old Elizabeth Lemley skied to Olympic gold with a cork-7 cross and a cork-7 with grab that scored 832.30 points, while her teammate Jaelin Kauf claimed silver closely behind with 80.77 points. Rounding out the podium was France’s Perrine Laffon with 78.00 points.
The day had started with the women’s qualifications round 2, from which Charlotte Wilson from Australia qualified in first place and Jaelin Kauf in second place. Then the finals started, the first of which saw a total of 20 skiers compete, who were then whittled down to the best eight. Qualifying for the second final were (in order): Jakara Anthony, Jaelin Kauf, Hinako Tomitaka, Elizabeth Lemley, Charlotte Wilson, Maia Schwinghammer, Avital Carroll, and Perrine Laffon.
And in the second finals, Elizabeth Lemley unleashed her best run, showing the world what she had in her repertoire, claiming the gold medal with a strong run with two very difficult jumps that scored well, putting her ahead of her more experienced teammate Jaelin Kauf. Kauf delivered technically better turns, but her jumps were less technically difficult, putting her slightly behind her teammate. 2018 Olympic Champion Perrine Laffon claimed bronze with a cork-7 on the top air and a back-grab on the bottom.
Australia’s Jakara Anthony, who had led the qualification round 1, also led the first finals with a score of 83.96, so expectations on the defending Olympic Champion were high. But in moguls, it is not the “best of”—each round counts separately, so there was no run to lean back on, making moguls such a high-pressure and therefore also sometimes heartbreaking discipline. And in the second final, the Australian came out of the course, ending any bid for the podium. The point deduction put her at the bottom of the final eight. A devastating blow for the Australian. Meanwhile, teammate Charlotte Wilson also had some minor mistakes that put her out of podium contention but saw the 20-year-old finishing in sixth place.
With her victory, Lemley becomes the first U.S. woman to claim a moguls gold at the Olympics since 2010. The Vail native had been the rookie of the year in the 2023-24 season but then suffered an ACL injury, causing her to miss the subsequent season. The 20-year-old also won gold at the 2024 Junior Olympics in Gangwon, Korea in both the moguls and the single moguls.
All mogul skiers have another chance at making the podium in the dual moguls on Saturday, February 14–what better way to spend Valentine’s Day than watching the world’s best mogul skiers battle it out in an elimination-style race?
