LIVIGNO, Italy — Standing out in the sea of a crowd at the Livigno Aerials & Moguls Park on Wednesday afternoon for the women’s moguls finals were Elizabeth Lemley and Jaelin Kauf’s friends and family.
Each showed up in numbers for the Milano Cortina Winter Games, Lemley’s first and Kauf’s third. They donned U.S. gear and held up signs for their Olympic skiers, Kauf’s family holding up the “J” signs that have become a staple across the World Cup circuit.
If Lemley and Kauf were to have an off-day, it wasn’t to be because of a lack of support or feeling homesick.
Lemley and Kauf had one of the best days of their lives, taking home the gold and silver medals, respectively. Though Lemley is ranked fourth in the world, the 20 year old’s win came as a relative surprise with only one World Cup win, in 2022. Kauf’s silver medal is her second straight in the Olympics.
France’s Perrine Laffont won the bronze medal.
Lemley’s gold medal was secured once Australia’s Jakara Anthony, the defending gold medal winner from the 2022 Beijing Games, caught her skis on each other and veered off to the left of the course. Lemley, who has largely lived in Park City since making the U.S. team at 16 and now calls Vail, Colorado, home, put her head into her hands in shock. Kauf and U.S. teammates Tess Johnson and Olivia Giacco, who also skied in the first final round, rushed to hug the winner.
“I just love skiing and enjoy myself in the gate,” Lemley said. “I enjoy competing and showcasing my skill, and that’s really what this is all about.”
Lemley and Giaccio relaxed on Tuesday night like they would any other. Wednesday, Lemley and her private coach, John Dowling of Ski & Snowboard Vail, devised a plan for her to ski the leftmost side of the course, which was untouched by most others other than Anthony. Dowling said if you’re able to find your groove in the more untouched parts of the course, it can lead to better results.
“I didn’t expect anything from my score,” she said. “I was just thinking about my run and was super stoked I just put one down.”
Soft spoken, Lemley said the gold medal feeling hasn’t quite soaked in yet. She embraced tearful friends and was paraded atop shoulders in the crowd, where she had to wrestle with the string breaking off her medal, a common occurrence with the Milan Games medals.
“I don’t really showcase my emotions that much,” Lemley said. “I just like to stay calm and feel the moment around me. … For me, it just works to be super calm.”
While Lemley will have to navigate the highs of winning and come back down to Earth for Saturday’s dual moguls final, making its Olympic debut, her family and friends can savor the win for as long as they’d like.
“Liz takes it pretty easy,” her coach said. “I don’t think there were any tears. There was no wasted emotion. I know she’s thrilled, but she’ll be ready.”
With Lemley’s dad and brother en route to Livigno for Saturday’s dual moguls, the Morelli family of Park City played the role. Barbara Wirostko Morelli and her daughters, Cristina and Julia Morelli, took Lemley into their home when she made the ski team. They said Lemley asked them to come support her in Livigno, which they were happy to oblige.
“I met Liz when I was about 10 years old,” said Cristina, a former Park City Ski and Snowboard Club freestyle skier. “We went to our first ski camp together in Whistler. … Since then, we’ve been really close friends. When she didn’t have a place to stay in Park City, she asked to live with us, and since then, my mom’s pretty much become her mother, and Julia, another sister. She’s just kind of a part of our family now.”
Barbara said Lemley fit right into their home. With Lemley a big fan of their family’s cats, they brought posters of the cats to Livigno.
“She was so easy to live with,” Barbara said. “I assisted on the journey.”
When Lemley missed the 2025 season with a torn ACL, she stayed with the Wirostko Morellis while recovering. While also extremely humble, Cristina said there were times when Lemley would say, ‘I’m going to win the Olympics one day,’ which the family believed.
Kauf said her support system always gives her a jolt of energy. She joked that they may have all traveled to the Italian Alps for the vacation.
“Up in the start gate, they’re chanting Jaelin,” Kauf said. “I’m smiling so big up there. It’s fun to share it all with them.”
Kauf said she’ll hold onto her medal tightly so it doesn’t share the same fate as Lemley’s. She’s ready to do it all again on Saturday for the final run from 10:30 a.m. to 12:05 p.m.
Kauf finished last World Cup season ranked atop the world in moguls and dual moguls. Her only World Cup win in an up-and-down season to date came in the Val St. Come, Canada, World Cup dual moguls on Jan. 10. Lemley finished second in Val St. Come, the only World Cup dual moguls of the season thus far.
