LIVIGNO, Italy — The most exciting addition to the2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympicsprogram, dual moguls, has two American medalists.
Jaelin Kauf reached the podium again, this time taking silver. It's the third Olympic medal (all silver) of her career, following asilver in the individual competitionthese Olympics and in 2022 at the Beijing Games.
Fellow American Liz Lemley won the bronze medal after narrowly edging France's Perrine Laffont in the "small final." It's Lemley's second medal of these Games after she won gold in individual moguls.
"Seeing I stacked up pretty good against the competition today," Kauf said about competing in dual moguls, "I'm really excited."
The United States made up half of the quarterfinalists with Tess Johnson and Olivia Giaccio joining Kauf and Lemley.
Dual moguls, making its Olympic debut, pits two competitors against each other at the same time. The one with the highest score moves on to the next round, with a champion, second and third place eventually being crowned.
Yuma Kagiyama of Team Japan competes in Men's Single Skating - Short Program on day one of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena on February 7, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Kagiyama pulled off a stunning routine that received 108.67 points, placing first in the event." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
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Yuma Kagiyama of Team Japan competes in Men's Single Skating - Short Program on day one of the Milano Cortina2026 Winter Olympicsat Milano Ice Skating Arena on February 7, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Kagiyama pulled off a stunning routine that received 108.67 points, placing first in the event.
Dual moguls is inherently more dangerous than individual moguls because of the head-to-head aspect, Kauf said, although there have been only a handful of incidents in which athletes fly out of control into the other person's course.
"Those center lines are pretty close together … anything can happen," Kauf said. "Usually nothing too serious."
Moguls races are judged by three categories – turns, jumps and speed – and whoever crosses the finish line first is not necessarily the winner.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Dual moguls' Olympic debut leads to medals for Jaelin Kauf, Liz Lemley