WYOMING — Two of the valley’s top women skiers won gold at separate international championship races over the weekend.
Breezy Johnson, who was born in Jackson and grew up in Victor, Idaho, placed first in the women’s Alpine Ski World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, on Saturday, Feb. 8.
Her personal motto, “Like the Wind,” rang true when she achieved a top speed of 86 mph (138.51 kph) — the fastest ever recorded speed by a woman in an Alpine skiing race, the Associated Press reported.
The 38 yards (35 meters) that she soared off the big Panorama jump midway down the course is considered equivalent to the distance that male competitors soar off the famed Hundschopf at Wengen in Switzerland, according to the Associated Press.
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) wrote on its website that Johnson has become “one of the most-talked-about American downhillers on the World Cup circuit.”
According to JHMR, Johnson started skiing at the resort at the age of 5 and raced for the Jackson Hole Ski Club until she was 13. She attended the Rowmark Academy in Salt Lake City, Utah, for high school, and upon graduation landed a spot on the U.S. Development Team in 2014. After recovering from multiple injuries, she won her first World Cup Championship in Dec. 2020 in Val d’Isère, France.
Jaelin Kauf, who grew up in Alta and now lives in Utah, won the dual moguls at the Intermountain Health Freestyle International Ski World Cup presented by Stifel at Deer Valley Resort in Utah on Saturday, Feb. 8. It is Kauf’s seventh consecutive World Cup podium and her 43rd career podium, the U.S. Ski Team reported on its website.
The U.S. Ski Team wrote that competitors faced the most difficult conditions ever seen on the Deer Valley race course due to the warm and rainy weather cycle. This did not deter Kauf, who cinched the win in the super finals over World Cup moguls leader Perrine Laffont. Laffont finished second.
“It’s been incredible, an absolute dream,” Kauf told the U.S. Ski Team. “I always know it’s going to be a tough one against Perinne … I was just saying, leave it all out there. Don’t leave anything left in the tank and don’t let them take anything away from your run. I definitely left it all out there!”
Kauf, an Olympic silver medalist, is considered the fastest woman on the moguls World Cup circuit, according to the U.S. Ski Team.
