Of the 32 athletes on the United States Olympic freestyle skiing roster, eight will compete in moguls skiing, with 2022 Olympic silver medalist Jaelin Kauf leading the charge.
For the Milan Cortina Olympics, there were 30 quota spots each for men and women in moguls skiing. Moguls and dual moguls are treated as one event for qualification purposes, and athletes who qualify for the Games are eligible to compete in both disciplines. With dual moguls making its Olympic debut this year, moguls skiers now have twice as many opportunities to snag an Olympic medal.
Meet the moguls skiers representing Team USA...
Olivia Giaccio
Olivia Giaccio started skiing when she was 2 years old. The Connecticut-born moguls skier attended ski school in Killington, Vermont, with her brother. Giaccio won her first FIS World Cup event in 2021, ending 2018 Olympic champion Perrine Laffont's nearly three-year winning streak. In 2022, the then-22-year-old became the first woman to land a cork 1080 in competition. That same season, she qualified for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, where she finished 6th. Days after finishing her undergraduate degree in psychology at Columbia University, Giaccio won her third career world cup moguls race. This season, Giaccio made four podiums in moguls, with her best result coming in Ruka, Finland, in a 2nd-place finish behind Australia's Jakara Anthony.
Tess Johnson
Tess Johnson grew up in Vail, Colorado, where she learned to ski at age 2. Too young to compete in slopestyle, Johnson participated in the "Bumps and Jumps" program and found her love for moguls. When she was 14, she became the youngest athlete ever named to the U.S. freestyle ski team. Johnson competed in her first Olympics in 2018 when she was 17 and placed 12th. A few weeks later, she won her first FIS World Cup event in dual moguls in Japan. In 2019, she finished 3rd at the world championships in dual moguls. Six years later, she placed 2nd in the same event, making history when teammate Jaelin Kauf finished 1st for the best U.S. finish in dual moguls at the world championships. Johnson is best known for her massive backflip venom bottom air and cork 720 top air.
Jaelin Kauf
Jaelin Kauf grew up surrounded by moguls skiing. Her parents, Scott and Patti, competed professionally in moguls, winning seven titles on the ProMogul Tour between the two of them. Kauf once joined her mother on the podium when she won a medal in ski cross at the X Games. In 2015, Kauf competed in moguls at the junior world championships, where she placed third. Kauf has 17 FIS World Cup wins under her belt across both moguls disciplines. Her first came in Japan in 2017 in dual moguls, where she finished above Kazakhstan's Yuliya Galysheva and Giaccio. Kauf earned her first podium finish at the 2017 World Championships, placing 3rd in dual moguls. Kauf is a two-time Olympian, having made her debut in PyeongChang before earning a silver medal in moguls four years later in Beijing. She swept last season's World Cup titles.
Liz Lemley
Liz Lemley started her career in moguls skiing after her father discovered the sport while watching the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He was fascinated and introduced Lemley to the slopes when she was just nine months old. By the time she was 9, she was performing flips. In 2022, Lemley made her world cup debut at age 15, placing fourth with a cork 720 and a cork grab. Both tricks later became her signature, helping her soar to the top at several moguls competitions. She claimed her first FIS World Cup victory in dual moguls in 2022, following it up with a 3rd-place finish in moguls one week later. This season, Lemley claimed two 2nd-place finishes, one in moguls and one in dual moguls. She will be competing in her first Olympic Games this year. Off the slopes, Lemley earned her pilot's license to fly four-seaters and prop planes like her father.
Charlie Mickel
Like Kauf, moguls skiing is a family affair for Charlie Mickel. Trudy, Charlie's older sister, won the junior world championship in moguls in 2017 and joined the U.S. Ski Team when she was 16. Like his sister, Mickel decided to pursue moguls. His father, Alex, began coaching him when he was 5 after discovering his passion for the sport at Chapman Hill and Purgatory Resort. Mickel joined the Wasatch Freestyle program in Park City when he was 15 before winning his first senior national championship two years later. His route to the victory included landing cork 720 aerials on both jumps and defeating two U.S. Ski Team members. As a result, he snagged a spot on the roster. Mickel claimed his first and only FIS World Cup podium in 2025 in Livigno, Italy, with a 3rd-place finish. One year later, he will be making his Olympic debut in the same city.
Nick Page
Nick Page put on his first pair of skis when he was 2 years old and joined Wasatch Freestyle when he was 7. One year later, when he watched Bryon Wilson earn bronze in moguls at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, he knew he wanted to be a moguls skier. In a full circle moment, Wilson became his coach at Wasatch Freestyle, nurturing Page's early career. Page won his first NorAm competition at Apex, British Columbia, becoming the youngest man ever to win a NorAm event at age 16. He made his Olympic debut at Beijing 2022, where he finished 5th in moguls and became the youngest man to compete in the medal round in the past decade. Page won his first and only FIS World Cup event in Sweden when he claimed victory over moguls legend Mikael Kingsbury.
Dylan Walczyk
Dylan Walczyk's mogul skiing started when he was 8. For four years, he trained under coach John Kroetz in his freestyle program. Walczyk and his family later moved to Colorado to pursue elite-level skiing, which helped Walczyk win a U.S. Selections event to snag a spot on the U.S. team in 2013. He's claimed two World Cup podiums in his career: a 3rd-place moguls finish in 2013 and a 2nd-place dual moguls finish in 2015. Over the course of his career, he's earned more than 50 FIS World Cup top-10 finishes. Walczyk qualified for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where he finished 16th in the men's moguls final. Walczyk co-founded an instructional skiing platform with Michael Schaefer called Steezy Joe Network to teach mogul skiing techniques to the next generation of freestyle athletes.
Landon Wendler
Landon Wendler started training in moguls while learning on the water ramps at Bald Eagle Lake, where he landed on his head the first time he tried to execute a backflip. In 2018, he won the U.S. Junior National Championship in moguls, earning him a spot at the FIS Junior World Championships, where he placed fourth in dual moguls and 10th in moguls. Throughout his career, Wendler has claimed 10 NorAm Cup podiums, including a moguls victory in 2020 and a dual moguls victory in 2022. Wendler made his FIS World Cup debut in 2020 in Deer Valley. He earned his first and only World Cup podium four years later in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with a 3rd-place finish in dual moguls. Wendler studied at the Los Angeles Film School while pursuing his professional career. He will be competing at his first Olympic Games this year.
