Long known as the queen of speed in freestyle moguls skiing, the implementation of higher intensity tricks in recent years has made Jaelin Kauf a nearly unstoppable force. 

The 28-year-old, who calls Alta, Wyoming, home ended the 2024-25 season in late March by winning not only a World Championship, but also capturing a hat-trick in the World Cup Series with the most points in women’s singles, duals and overall moguls for the first time in U.S. history. 

It was the first American World Cup season title in moguls skiing in a decade, with Hannah Kearney winning the last overall season title in 2015. So it seems only fitting when asked to describe her recent season in one word, Kauf deferred to Kearney.

“Hannah Kearney kept saying dominant and I really like how that sounds,” she said. “I’m super excited heading into the Olympics this year. I feel like everything is building in the right direction. I’m having a lot of fun and loving it, so I’m looking forward to continuing to build off this season.”

Making History

One of America’s biggest moguls stars, Kauf has 16 World Cup victories, 50 World Cup podiums, a World Championships gold medal, seven U.S. Championship titles and a 2022 Olympic silver medal to her name. 

Her skiing career began the way many do, with Kauf following her family into the sport. Her parents Scott and Patti were both skiers on the pro moguls tour, and her older brother Skyler took up the discipline at a young age as well.

Kauf learned to ski at Grand Targhee before moving to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, as a freshman in high school where she was able to train on aerials.

In mogul skiing, a skier’s score is based on three elements: turns (60%), air (20%), and speed (20%), with judges evaluating the quality of turns, aerial maneuvers, and time to complete the course. Dual moguls are an event where two athletes compete side-by-side. The competitor with the highest score based turns, air and speed advances to the next round. 

Kauf medaled for the first time in 2016, and that year was named Rookie of the Year on the World Cup tour. Since then, she has been a consistent podium finisher on the World Cup, but a crystal globe had been just out of reach. She’s previously finished second in the season standings in 2018, 2019 and 2024.

Heading into this season she made some small changes that made a big difference. Kauf wanted to focus on building throughout each event, putting down strong qualification runs and continuing to improve through the super final. 

She also made a switch to her aerial jumps. In past years, Kauf would throw a back mute (skier grabs the opposite ski and then rotates their upper body backwards while still facing the opposite direction) on her top air and a cork 720 (two distinct off-axis spins) on her bottom air. She flip-flopped the jumps this season as she can adjust more in the air on the back mute and better stick the landing.

“I think I’ve just been zoning in a bit more on my consistency each year,” she said. “I also switched up my air package a bit which definitely worked well.”

Dominating

Kauf didn’t medal in her first World Cup event this season but made the podium from there on out. She won eight of the 16 events this year, including a five-event win streak in February. She also took home five silver medals and one bronze.

She became the duals and overall season champion at the event in Kazakhstan in February after winning the dual competition, her seventh victory in the event this season.

“That’s [clinching the globe] pretty incredible,”  Kauf told U.S. Ski and Snowboard at the event. “I’ve been working at that for a long time, and I’m stoked with the win today. It was a super fun competition, I’m really excited about those titles, it’s really special.” 

The hat-trick would come down to her Super Final run in Livigno, Italy, a few weeks later. Only six World Cup points separated Kauf from French skier Perrine Laffont for the singles trophy, so whoever scored better in the event would win the globe. 

“I was just focusing on skiing my run,” Kauf said. “I had a few things I knew I could improve upon from the finals run and so was going over my cues for those, but mostly just focusing on executing everything the best I could and hopefully take out of the judges hands as much as possible.”

Laffont laid down a 77-point run at the World Series Finals. Kauf finished the course in 24.7 seconds, which was the fastest by over a full second. Her points for aerials and turns down the bumps separated her even further and she finished with 81.21 points to win her third title in just two weeks. 

“I’ve come in second quite a few years now and it’s been a big goal of mine to be the best in the world and take that title, so to finally do that and take all three globes felt amazing,” she said.

The moment was made even more memorable by the fact that Kauf’s mother, father and stepfather were all in attendance to witness it. 

“It was so special,” she said. “They have obviously been a huge part of this journey and it’s always special to know they are waving the Js and cheering me on from the bottom of the course.”

Golden Girl Continues

And Kauf wasn’t done yet. 

She continued to ride the momentum into the Freestyle World Ski Championships in Switzerland in late March. After skiing out of the course in the singles competition to finish eighth, Kauf turned her focus to dual moguls. 

Conditions were less than ideal, as an overnight freeze made for hard, frozen bumps. Several athletes skied off the course in the early rounds, but Kauf managed to make it to the final round of 16. 

After advancing through the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, Kauf faced off with American teammate Tess Johnson in the final. Kauf’s speed in the mid-section of the course, along with solid jumps, helped her pull away to secure the World Championship title. It was the first time two Americans finished first and second in the 26-year-old dual moguls competition.

“It was a really great way to end the season,” Kauf said. “I’d been after that World Championship title for a while as well, and especially with how singles day went, it felt good to put it all together and ski how I wanted to.”

During the awards ceremony, Kauf was given the gold “2025 World Champion” bib to wear as the crowd roared.

“I might have to frame this one,” she said of her thoughts about the coveted bib.

After taking some time off, she will get back into training for next season, which includes the 2026 Olympics in Italy.

“I’m very happy that the season is over and get some time off to just relax now and I’ll definitely be spending some time off up in Wyoming this summer,” she said. 

For the first time, Kauf has the chance to compete in two Olympic events, as dual moguls will be making its debut at Milano Cortina 2026.

“It’s super exciting to have another event and another medal opportunity for us,” Kauf said. “I love duals and the energy of the event, and I feel like it’s going to be a big hit at the Olympics!”