The first Medal Stand of 2019 provides an update on Teton Valley moguls skier and 2018 Olympian Jaelin Kauf.
The Medal Stand: Kauf competes again this weekend
Jaelin Kauf resumes her FIS Freestyle World Cup competition schedule this weekend after a holiday break.
The 2018 U.S. Olympian will compete in moguls Saturday in Calgary, Alberta. Kauf, a Steamboat Springs, Colo., resident originally from Alta, Wyo., is currently No. 1 in the FIS women’s moguls rankings with 245 World Cup points. She enters this weekend with a five-point lead over France’s Perrine Laffont and having won moguls and dual moguls in consecutive days at the World Cup stop at Thaiwoo, China, in mid-December.
Coming up locally
The Teton Ridge Classic takes place Saturday at Grand Targhee Resort’s Nordic trails. Start times are as follows: 10 a.m. for 24k, 10:10 a.m. for 14k, 10:20 a.m. for 6k and 10:25 a.m. for 2k. It will be followed by a lunch at 11:30 a.m. and awards at 12:30 p.m.
Grand Targhee Resort also has Intermountain Division Master’s slalom and giant slalom races scheduled for this weekend. The races will take place at Big Thunder/Palmer Runs.
Team USA Update
Mikaela Shiffrin competed in seven FIS World Cup races during an 18-span that ended Tuesday. She won four times and placed second twice within those 18 days. Her most recent result was second place by 15 hundredths of a second to Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova in Tuesday’s slalom in Flachau, Austria, amid steady snowfall. Shiffrin has a bit of an upcoming break, as this weekend’s women’s World Cup races in St. Anton, Austria, were canceled due to heavy snowfall and will not be made up. As of Wednesday, Shiffrin leads the FIS Alpine Women’s World Cup standings with 1,294 points–a 446-point margin over Vlhova. She is also third in the giant slalom standings (255 points) and leads the super G standings (200 points).
Elana Meyers Taylor and Lake Kwaza took bronze in at the World Cup bobsled stop over the weekend in Altenberg, Germany, with a combined two-run time of 1:57.64. It is the second World Cup medal for Meyers Taylor. Also in Germany over the weekend, Summer Britcher claimed second place at the World Cup luge stop in Berchtesgarden-Königssee with a combined time of 1:45.39. She has won three World Cup medals thus far this season.
Numerous Olympians will compete this week at the TYR Pro Swim Series stop in Knoxville, Tenn. It is the first major swimming competition of 2019 and is the first of five stops on the TYR Pro Swim Series. Among those competing are Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel, Chase Kalisz, Ryan Murphy, Kathleen Baker, Matt Grevers, Kelsi Dahlia and Olivia Smoliga.