The US women's mogul ski team is a freestyle skiing powerhouse that has dominated the FIS Freestyle World Cup standings for the last several years. The US has five women in the top 10 on the leaderboard this season, and the entire team is full of Olympic and World Championship medalists, all vying for a podium finish at any given event.
This season, 2022 Olympic silver medalist Jaelin Kauf leads in dual moguls and Olympian Olivia Giaccio, fresh off a first-place finish in the last event in Bakuriani, Georgia, is second in singles. Tess Johnson is in sixth place in singles, and Kensington, N.H.'s Kasey Hogg is in ninth place in singles and seventh in duals.
Kai Owens, rookie of the year in 2021, is sitting 10th in singles.
But as the US women's team rolls into Waterville Valley for the FIS Freestyle World Cup event on Friday and Saturday, its athletes are being chased by the best in the world. In pursuit are Australia's 2022 Olympic gold medalist Jakara Anthony and France's 2018 Olympic gold medalist Perrine Laffont, who are first and third on the tour in singles.
"The US women are the real deal," said legendary Waterville Valley mogul coach Suzi Preston. "Almost always, three of them are in the top 10 at any event. Kauf is known as the fastest skier on the tour, and Johnson could be the most technical skier."
The East Coast is well represented at Waterville.
"Giaccio is a Killington girl," former Olympic coach Nick Preston said, "and Hogg is a New Hampshire skier who placed second in the US national championships last year. She is one of the most dynamic skiers on the tour and loves the track on Lower Bobby's Run at Waterville Valley. She could be the one to watch for this upcoming event."
The men will be equally exciting to watch at Waterville Valley. Canadian Mikaël Kingsbury is the most accomplished mogul skier of all time with 86 World Cup Victories. Kingsbury is tied for sixth in career World Cup wins across all skiing disciplines, equal with Swedish ski racing icon Ingemar Stenmark.
That is just the beginning of Kingsbury's dominance of the sport. He has won the FIS Freestyle World Cup 10 times in moguls and is a nine-time overall freestyle champion. Kingsbury is the first man to have won both moguls and dual moguls world championships. He is a 2014 and 2022 Olympic silver medalist and 2018 Olympic gold medalist. Last season, he won the FIS World Cup duals event at Waterville.
"Watching Kingsbury is watching history," Nick Preston said. "To see the world's best mogul skier of all time right here in New Hampshire is an opportunity you don't want to miss. This guy is powerful, smooth, and fast. He goes huge off the jumps and makes it look easy top to bottom every time."
The US men's team has three of the top 20 in this season's standings. Olympian Nick Page, who in 2022 became the first American to win a World Cup event in 6 years, is 10th overall. He was second in the US nationals last year and 10th at the 2024 World Cup, both events hosted at Waterville Valley.
New Yorker Dylan Walczyk, a US men's team veteran with 120 World Cup starts, three podium finishes, and 12 top-five finishes, is in 14th place.
The Swedish men's team has three in the top 10. Olympic champion Walter Wallberg is second overall, Rasmus Stegfeldt is fifth and was third overall in 2024. Filip Gravenfors, who is 21,sits in eighth overall this season.
"The Swedish men's team is powerful; they explode through the bumps and blast off the jumps. Not fluid like the French or as fast as the Japanese, but that makes it all so fun to watch," Nick Preston said.
The men's and women's singles moguls are Friday and the duals are on Saturday on Lower Bobby's Run.