Former SSWSC skier Jaelin Kauf earns first World Cup podium of the season

Jaelin Kauf/Courtesy photo
At the halfway point of the World Cup season, former Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club skier Jaelin Kauf earned her first podium finish of the season at Val St. Come, Canada, on Friday, Jan. 27.
The moguls star steamrolled her way through qualifying with the fastest overall time, and fourth-best run score.
Qualifying for the second finals run, Kauf scored 78.34 points on her 20-point timed run and took bronze in the World Cup event. Kauf had come close to a podium several times this season and said it was nice to have a consistent weekend.
“It definitely feels really good to get back on the podium,” Kauf said. “I felt like I skied really good all weekend, I was having a lot of fun on the course and put things together how I wanted to.”
Fellow former SSWSC athlete Olivia Giaccio also competed in the event, making it out of the qualifying round and taking 11th overall while scoring 74.53 points on her final run.
Kauf and Giaccio were back at it the following day for a dual moguls competition where the pair finished fourth and fifth, respectively, to continue a consistent run of top finishes in World Cup events.
Other Steamboat-related athletes to recently compete in World Cup events include Cody Winters who took 28th in both his World Cup parallel giant slalom races on Jan. 26 and 27 at Blue Mountain in Canada.
Women’s Nordic combined athlete Annika Malacinski took 21st and 19th in her two days of competition on Jan. 28 and 29 in Seefeld, Austria. Both days, Malacinski was able to make up one position in the cross country race.

Jaelin Kauf/Courtesy photo
As Steamboat’s World Cup athletes gear up for the remainder of the winter season, Kauf will compete at Deer Valley in moguls and dual moguls on Thursday, Feb. 2 and Saturday, Feb. 4.
“The consistency is always the hardest piece of it all,” Kauf said. “The goal going forward with the rest of the season is just skiing my run the best I can and try and limit those mistakes made throughout the day and just keep being consistent.”
To reach Tom Skulski, call 970-871-4240, email tskulski@SteamboatPilot.com.

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