Revenge is a dish best served cold. Australia's Jakara Anthony would know better than anyone.
Anthony claimed her second Olympic gold medal, her first in dual moguls, on Saturday as the event debuted at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games amidst heavy snowfall and gray skies.
The competition came down to the best in the field with all three medalists in the moguls event facing off against the queen of moguls, who was looking for a second chance at an Olympic medal at these Games following a disappointing 8th-place finish in moguls.
In the end, it was the Aussie who was hungrier for more.
The 2024 Crystal Globe winner faced 2025 world champion Jaelin Kauf (USA) in the big final, where she emerged victorious after a slight mistake from Kauf allowed her to overtake the American in both speed and form scores. With her third overall Olympic silver, Kauf becomes the most decorated women's moguls skier in history.
Liz Lemley (USA) claimed bronze after besting France's Perrine Laffont 18 to 17 in the small final.
"It was a real rollercoaster today," Anthony said after her race. "The heartbreak the other day in singles was a pretty tough pill to swallow. I'm lucky to be so well-supported, and we were able to reset and look forward to what it is we can do in duals."
Anthony came into these Games looking to make history as the first woman to win back-to-back gold in moguls skiing. While she didn't quite achieve that feat, the Aussie still cemented her name in the record books as the first Australian athlete to claim two gold medals at the Olympic Winter Games. The 27-year-old also holds the record for the most World Cup victories in a single season in women's moguls.
This is only the Aussie's second dual moguls event in over two years due to injury, and while she may be renowned for her dominance in moguls, her strength in dual moguls is nothing to scoff at. In the 2024-25 season, Anthony won all but one World Cup event in dual moguls, marking nine total World Cup dual moguls victories.
"I was rolling with a lot of unknowns heading into this competition," Anthony said. "We were able to work out a plan and follow that and roll with the punches a little bit, and we got it done."
Kauf is one of the fastest women on the World Cup circuit, giving her the advantage in every dual moguls race this competition save for the final. Earlier in the Games, she clocked the fastest time of the first round of qualification in moguls at 24.88 seconds. Last season, Kauf finished at the top of the World Cup rankings in dual moguls, winning five dual moguls events and a Crystal Globe, the coveted end-of-season trophy given to the overall season winner of the FIS World Cup in a skiing or snowboarding discipline.
"I was really going for gold, but I guess 'Silver Jae' has a ring to it, so I'm living up to the name," Kauf said after the race.
Of course, the final wasn't the only action-packed race in this event. With a stacked semifinal, the competition was bound to be entertaining.
Laffont faced Kauf first. Both skiers faltered, with Laffont stumbling and skiing outside the gates before Kauf crashed hard seconds later. However, it was Kauf who advanced to the finals given Laffont's deviation from the course first.
Then came one the most anticipated races since the draw came out: the 2022 Olympic champion against the 2026 Olympic champion. Anthony and Lemley were nearly neck and neck, but it was Lemley who blinked first with a crash off her bottom air jump.
In addition to her Olympic gold, Lemley has four World Cup podiums. Her first and only win in this event on the World Cup circuit came in 2022, winning gold a little over a year later in the Youth Olympic Winter Games.
Americans Tess Johnson and Olivia Giaccio fell in the quarterfinals after impressive runs in their first few races.
Laffont, who claimed bronze in moguls on Wednesday, bested Johnson by just one point while Giaccio fell to Anthony, who beat Giaccio four times in dual moguls prior to this duel. Kauf went through to the semifinals after Anastassiya Gorodko (KAZ) took a hard crash at the beginning if their run. Lemley advanced after a similar scenario when Hinako Tomitaka (JPN) stumbled early on.
Like Lemley, Johnson has four World Cup podiums in this event, including one win in 2018, in addition to two world championship podiums. Giaccio is a consistent podium finisher in dual moguls, earning eight World Cup podiums over eight years. Her best result came in 2023 when she finished 2nd in Alpe d'Huez, France.
"We're just a super dominant team," Lemley said on the American women's results at these Games. "We push each other to be the best and it's obviously shown up super well."
As of now, Kauf and Lemley make up a quarter of the U.S.' total medals at these Games with four Olympic medals between them.