Elite international moguls competition wrapped Friday at Shymbulak, Kazakhstan at the FIS World Cup Finals. Jaelin Kauf led the Americans with a second-place, her sixth podium of the season, to finish in the moguls discipline ranked third overall. Tess Johnson made her first super finals appearance of 2023 to close out her season with a third place finish. France’s Perrine Laffont won for the women. 

“It was really fun today, the course was my favorite of the days, today,” said Kauf. “I decided to throw cork in super finals, which may be the first time I have done it in competition. They were going well in training and I really wanted to do one in World Cup this year. I felt good about it. I was pretty confident of hitting how I wanted to and taking it to my feet.”

Kauf qualified in second for the super final round and was all smiles at the start gate, a signal that she was about to turn it on. She switched up her usual air package to execute top mute to bottom cork 7, with signature fast skiing in the middle section - almost maxing out her speed points - to earn a score of 76.30. Laffont just edged her out for first with a score of 77.96. 

In her super final run Johnson skied top cork to her bottom signature venom grab. She was aggressive and strong in the middle section, attacking the course to earn third place. 

“I am super proud of my runs,” said Johnson. “It’s been a little bit of a frustrating season results-wise, so I am really happy to have put down some clean T to Bs with high DD. I was having a lot of fun skiing today with all of the women.”

Seven women represented the U.S. in finals with six finishing in the top ten: Kauf in second, Johnson in third, Hannah Soar in sixth, Olivia Giaccio in eighth, Alli Macuga ninth and Kasey Hogg in tenth. Lulu Shaffer finished 11th. 

Nick Page was the top U.S. finisher for the men, skiing into fifth place and finishing his season ranked fourth overall. Page wowed the field in his super finals round by throwing a cork 14 on the bottom air, the highest degree of difficulty trick possible for the men and the first one thrown in World Cup competition all season. At the finish fellow competitor Matt Graham (Australia) asked Page if the trick was in his plan for the day, to which Page responded it was if he made it to Supers. 

Landon Wendler had a career-best day with his first super finals appearance. He skied cork 7 to a fast and strong middle section and finished with cork 7 grab. He went huge on the bottom and got a little tripped up in the landing to finish sixth. “Landon’s final run was insane, literally perfection,” noted Johnson. Cole McDonald finished 16th.

Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury won for the men, Kazakhstan’s Pavel Komolkav took second and Graham came in third. 

Macuga was awarded FIS Rookie of the Year for her skiing this season, an awesome accomplishment for the D-Team athlete. “I am beyond happy with my results,” she said. “As the season went on [Rookie of the Year] definitely became a goal. Huge thanks to family and friends and all my sponsors and teammates and coaches, and everyone who’s been supporting me this season!”

With strong results throughout the season and a deep field of American skiers, the U.S. once again clinched the Nations Cup for Moguls. “I am very proud of our whole team,” said Head Moguls Coach Bryon Wilson. “We had a lot of contributors this year, not only national team members, but other athletes that came up through clubs and qualified for World Cup starts. I am very proud of U.S. moguls skiing overall and thankful for our staff, couldn't do it without them.”

The U.S. Freestyle Moguls Ski Team will wrap their international season tomorrow with Dual Moguls World Cup Finals. Another Nations Cup is on the line and you can bet the team is hungry to take it. 

RESULTS
Women’s Moguls
Men’s Moguls
Women’s Moguls Discipline Standings
Men’s Moguls Discipline Standings

Aerialist Chris Lillis pulled out all the stops and landed a double-full full double-full, a quintuple twisting triple back flip, for a score of 128 to earn third place at the FIS Freestyle World Cup in Engadin, Switzerland on Sunday. 

“It was a really solid day,” Lillis reflected. “A lot of the adverse weather conditions prevented me from performing the quint twist in Georgia [at World Champs]. So it was a lot of fun to put it down and put it in the super final. It was the biggest jump I’ve done all week. Part of me was a little surprised I was able to stretch it down and put it to my feet. This was one of the highest levels of aerial competitions I’ve ever been a part of.”

Lillis added the quint to his jumping repertoire ahead of the 2022 Olympic season, becoming the first American to land one in competition since the late Jeret “Speedy” Peterson. Although not a give in, Lillis always threatens the quint if he makes it into a super finals round. Lillis admitted performing the trick was not part of the original plan for his competition day. "The site is very tricky, very warm and windy,” he explained. “I didn’t know I was doing it until 30 seconds before my first finals jump. We decided to do the double-in in finals, so then knew it would be the quint for supers.”

Following Lillis’ high-flying, high-scoring jump the rest of the men’s field took the queue and broke out their own quints. “Until I did the quint, no one in the competition was planning to throw them as far as I know,” said Lillis.

Ukraine’s Dmytro Kotovskyi won the event by landing the hardest trick in aerial skiing, known as The Hurricane, for a score of 136.76. Switzerland's Noe Roth executed a beautiful double-full double-full full for a score of 133.11 to land in second place. 

Quinn Dehlinger also represented the U.S. in the super finals round. He performed a double-full full full, flying high and sneaking his feet down to manage the landing, to earn a score of 93.21 - good for fifth overall. Derek Krueger earned a career-best result with an eighth place finish after executing a full double-full full in the first finals round. 

Winter Vinecki was the top American woman, finishing just off the podium in fourth place. This marks her season’s best result and will be good momentum for her heading into World Cup Finals. Australia’s Danielle Scott and Laura Peel took first and second, respectively. China’s Fanyu Kong rounded out the podium in third. 

Megan Nick performed a full double-full to earn a score of 75.78 in finals and was just edged out of the super final round, placing in seventh for the day. Kuhn and Elliott each performed full full in finals but did not make the super final round, ending the day in 11th and 12th, respectively. 

Aerials will wrap World Cup competition at World Cup Finals in Kazakhstan March 19. 

RESULTS
Women’s Aerials
Men’s Aerials

On the cusp of the inaugural Stifel America’s Downhill at Aspen, the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team’s first coach is still impacting the athletes over a half-century later. U.S. Ski & Snowboard is thrilled to announce that the organization has reached its $20 million goal to endow the Bob Beattie Athlete Travel Fund.

The Bob Beattie Athlete Travel Fund supports travel expenses for A, B, C and Pro team athletes across alpine, cross country, freestyle, snowboard and freeski. It is unique in the sports world—no other national governing body has an endowment that provides financial support specifically for its athletes’ travel needs. The Beattie Fund is part of the larger Marolt Athlete Endowment campaign, which also raises funds to support coaching, athlete education and sports career transition assistance, in perpetuity.

The fund is named in honor of the late Coach Beattie (1933 – 2018), an icon of the sport of alpine ski racing who led the alpine team to its first men’s medals in 1964 and was a tireless supporter of athletes up to his passing in 2018. Its launch in his name five months prior to his passing was one of his proudest moments.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard thanks all the supporters whose generosity made this achievement possible, especially Board of Trustees members Phill Gross, for his dedication and leadership as the Marolt Athlete Endowment campaign chair, and Karen Arnold, whose passion for this mission drove fundraising forward and across the finish line.  

As one of alpine ski racing’s most passionate pioneers, Beattie remained an outspoken advocate for athlete travel funding throughout his life. The fund was created to specifically close the gap on funding of athlete travel costs to training camps, and domestic and international competitions. While in the past most of those expenses were covered by the team, in recent years a gap in funding created scenarios where athletes were paying to travel with the team.

Beattie stumbled into the national team role in the early 1960s but went on to become its first full-time coach, leading Billy Kidd and Jimmie Heuga to silver and bronze in the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck. He was one of the originators of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup tour, which began in 1967, and went on to pioneer NASTAR, start World Pro Skiing and become a legendary broadcaster with ABC and ESPN. He remained an active trustee with the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Foundation for a half-century and was well known for his impassioned speeches at board members imploring more support for athletes.

As a nonprofit organization, U.S. Ski & Snowboard has limited annual resources to allocate across multiple sports. Endowments like the Bob Beattie Athlete Travel Fund are a great way to augment athlete support and maintain core operational funding. While he was a New Hampshire native, Beattie called Aspen, Colorado home for more than 40 years. It is fitting that we announce the realization of his dream of athlete travel funding ahead of the alpine competition that he championed for many years.