Teton Valley winter athletes and 2018 U.S. Olympic teammates Jaelin Kauf and Breezy Johnson both competed over the weekend.
The Medal Stand: Kauf wins first World Cup of season
Jaelin Kauf bested a 220-meter course to win the women’s FIS dual moguls World Cup on Sunday in Shymbulak, Kazakhstan. It is her first World Cup win of the 2019-20 season and seventh of her career.
Originally from Teton Valley and now residing in Park City, the 2018 U.S. Olympian reached the round of 16 with U.S. teammates Hannah Soar and Tess Johnson. Soar ended up ninth while Johnson placed seventh. Kauf is fourth in the FIS women’s moguls World Cup standings with 410 points, five points back of third place Justine Dufour-Lapointe.
Kauf next competes this week at Krasnoyarsk, Russia, in another dual moguls World Cup.
Another Teton Valley 2018 U.S. Olympian, Breezy Johnson of Victor, competed over Leap Day weekend. Johnson finished 30th in Saturday’s women’s super G at the World Cup stop at La Thuile, Italy. Johnson is 38th in the FIS alpine women’s overall standings with 162 points, 20th in downhill with 136 points and 41st in super G with 14 points.
Coming up locally
The next Targhee Cup Adult League race is today at Palmer’s Raceway at Grand Targhee Resort. Proceeds benefit the Teton Valley Ski Education Foundation. Also at the resort this Saturday is the fourth annual Terrain Park Takeover at the Sweetwater Terrain Park. This weekend is also Idaho Falls Ski Club weekend at Grand Targhee.
Team USA Update
Two-time Olympic women’s slopestyle snowboard champion Jamie Anderson added another win to an impressive season, winning her eighth Burton U.S. Open title on Friday. Earlier in February, she won her 11th Winter Dew Tour title.
Three-time Olympic men’s halfpipe snowboard champion Shaun White shared with the Associated Press over the weekend that he will not pursue a spot on the inaugural U.S. skateboarding team for this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. Skateboarding is one of four sports making its debut for the Summer Olympics this year. White, the first athlete to win a gold medal at both the Summer and Winter X Games, said he is not ready to walk away from snowboarding, but has yet to fully commit to training for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Galen Rupp, Jacob Riley and Abdi Abdirahman finished first, second and third in the men’s marathon at Saturday’s U.S. Olympic Trials for marathon in Atlanta to qualify for this summer’s Olympic Games while Aliphine Tuliamuk, Molly Seidel and Sally Kipyego claimed the top three spots in the women’s marathon to qualify for Team USA. Rupp, who won the men’s race in 2:09:20, made his second U.S. Olympic team in the marathon and fourth Olympic team of his career, Abdirahman made his fifth Olympic team, Kipyego made her second Olympic team (but first as a U.S. citizen) and Riley, Tuliamuk and Seidel made their first Olympic teams. Tuliamuk won the women’s race in 2:27:23. Saturday was Seidel’s first marathon while Rupp became the first U.S. man to defend his Olympic Trials marathon title since Frank Shorter in 1976 and 43 year-old Abdirahman became the oldest U.S. Olympian in marathon.