World Cup notebook: Jaelin Kauf takes back-to-back silvers, Chris Corning takes third, and River Radamus competes in Palisades Tahoe World Cup
SSCV's Lemley concludes World Championships debut with fifth and sixth-place finishes
Jeff Swinger/AP photo
Vail-born mogul skier Jaelin Kauf won back-to-back silver medals over the weekend at the Freestyle World Ski Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia. Kauf was second in Saturday’s individual moguls and Sunday’s dual moguls — sliding behind France’s Perrine Laffont in both. Austria’s Avital Carrol took the bronze in both mogul events.
“That last run against Perrine was (the most fun) I’ve had in such a long time,” Kauf told U.S. Ski and Snowboard’s Lara Carlton after winning her fourth-career world championships medal. “I could just tell we were neck-and-neck the whole way down. That’s exactly what you want for one and two.”
“To be on the podium two days back to back made for a really fun World Champs and event here in Bakuriani,” she continued. “I was definitely going for the gold both days but I’ll settle for second. I wanted to just go out and ski my run all day and leave nothing out there, and I didn’t.”
Ski and Snowboard Club Vail athlete Liz Lemley placed sixth and fifth in the individual moguls and dual moguls, respectively. She made her World Championships debut in Saturday’s individual moguls, running first out of the gate and setting the tone for the rest of the U.S. women’s team, which qualified Kauf, Olivia Giaccio, Soar and Lemley to the finals. The 17-year-old joined Kauf in the super final round, but would DNF and finish sixth.
“I was pretty nervous but I laid down a good run,” Lemley told Carlton on Saturday. When asked if she liked going first, she answered, “Nope! Hated it.”
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Former SSCV mogul skier Dylan Walczyk placed 24th and 18th in the individual moguls and dual moguls, respectively, in his fifth world championships. The World Cup moguls calendar concludes with the World Cup Finals March 17-20 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Lemley is ranked third in the dual moguls cup standings and fifth in the individual moguls standings.
Chris Corning wins snowboard slopestyle world championship bronze medal
Hugh Carey/AP photo
Chris Corning added to his impressive world championship resume — which already included a 2019 slopestyle gold, a 2017 big air bronze and a 2017 slopestyle bronze — with a bronze medal in Monday’s slopestyle competition in the 2023 FIS Freestyle Ski, Snowboard, and Freeski World Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia.
“I’m most proud of my course usage today. I did new stuff for me with putting a backside (1800) in my run, I’ve not done that in a slopestyle run before in a competition. I’m super stoked about that, I’ve wanted to do it for years and just have not had the opportunity,” Corning told U.S. Ski and Snowboard’s Kate Anderson.
“The course was good today. It got really slushy, we haven’t really had a good day of slush at all, and it was my first time riding slush this year, so I was happy to put a run down and ride well today.”
Marcus Kleveland of Norway and Ryoma Kimata of Japan took gold and silver, respectively. In addition to Corning, the Americans saw Brock Crouch finish eighth, Jake Canter place 11th and Sean FitzSimons take 36th.
River Radamus pushes the limits, ultimately DNFs at Tahoe Palisades World Cup giant slalom
Robert F. Bukaty/AP
Racing on home soil, River Radamus wasn’t about to let off the gas in the second run of the giant slalom at the Palisades Tahoe World Cup on Saturday. Unfortunately, his aggressive charging resulted in a DNF.
“I felt like I was skiing with anybody today. First run I really felt like was able to ski among the best basically. Made some mistakes and so I didn’t want to leave anything on the table second run,” Radamus said. He was 18th after the first run, 1.56 seconds behind Marco Odermatt. In the second run, the 25-year-old Edwards skier went off track at the top of the course.
“Went full attack and came over that break over — it’s sort of an uphill into a blind turn on the pitch and you really have to be on it quick on that pitch,” Radamus explained. “I saw everybody was getting low on that next turn there so I wanted to get on it early. Thought I was patient enough, flipped them, skis engaged and I started to turn too early and couldn’t make it.”
After the first run, Radamus mentioned how he was going for the “bad boy line.”
“I was saying that more to hype up the crowd but my mentality was that I wanted to push myself to the limits and see what I could get away with because I think the course set and the snow necessitated charging if you wanted to succeed today,” he said.
“So yeah, I was really happy with my mentality first run. I felt like I laid it all out there, I wasn’t skiing conservatively and I felt like i was doing the same the second run. Obviously, the results aren’t what I want, but I have to understand that that’s the risk of pushing it as hard as I can.”
Marco Schwarz took the win, with Odermatt and Norwegian Rasmus Windingstad rounding out the podium.
John Locher/AP photo
Radamus placed 32nd in Sunday’s slalom, finishing just seven hundredths of a second outside of qualifying for a second run. Alexander Steen Olsen was the winner, with his Norwegian teammate Timon Haugan placing second and Albert Popov and Clement Noel tying for third.
