Jaelin Kauf (USA) finished 2nd in the second round of women's moguls qualification, nabbing a spot in the final. The 29-year-old landed a cork 720 for her top air jump, a part of the course that gave her trouble during Tuesday's qualification. An additional backflip mute grab earned her 77.18 points, enough to put her 12th in the overall qualification standings.
"Out of the top air, that was where things went a little wrong yesterday," Kauf said. "Once I was in the middle, I felt good. It wasn't the best run I've ever put down but got a top-to-bottom in and made it through (to) the final. Skiing the second qualification round wasn't part of the plan, but once I was in, it was just coming out, trying to put a solid top-to-bottom through. Not trying to push or do anything crazy out here but just get a run down and get the Olympics started."
With six World Cup moguls victories and an Olympic silver medal under her belt, Kauf is aiming for gold in this afternoon's final.
Charlotte Wilson (AUS), like Kauf, was expected to advance to the final in Tuesday's first qualification, but battled through a fairly messy run. A day later, she landed a backflip with a mute grab and a backflip with an iron cross to score 77.79 points and take the top spot in Wednesday's qualification.
Yulia Galysheva (KAZ), one of the most experienced skiers in Wednesday's qualification round, nailed a front flip with a truckdriver grab — a trick that hasn't been done in these past two rounds of qualifications — to snag her spot in the final alongside teammate Anastassiya Gorodko.
Austria's Avital Carroll, who completed a backflip grab and cork 7 with a grab, also advanced.