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Team USA's first two medal winners are from Colorado

Julia Marino and Jaelin Kauf won silver in Beijing.

BEIJING, China — The first two Team USA athletes to win medals at the Winter Olympics have something in common besides their skills on the slopes -- they're both Coloradans.

Snowboarder Julia Marino was the first American to medal in Beijing when she took silver in women's slopestyle Saturday. It's her first-ever Olympic medal.

Marino's hometown is Westport, Connecticut, but she is a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder and lives and trains in Breckenridge.  

Marino's teammates, Jamie Anderson and Hailey Langland, finished ninth and 11th, respectively.

RELATED: Julia Marino wins first U.S. medal of 2022 Olympics in snowboarding slopestyle

Marino is also competing in big air. The qualifying round for that event is scheduled for Feb. 13. 

Vail native Jaelin Kauf earned Team USA's second medal of the Games when she took silver in the women's moguls. It was also her first Olympic medal.

RELATED: How did the US do in women's moguls?

The Steamboat Springs High School graduate became the first American woman to make the podium for freestyle skiing moguls at the Winter Olympics since 2014.

Credit: AP
United States' Jaelin Kauf competes in the women's moguls qualifying at Genting Snow Park at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Fellow American Olivia Giaccio also made it to the medal round, but finished sixth. Hannah Soar finished seventh, and Kai Owens placed 10th.

Twenty-three athletes competing in these Games are from Colorado, and a total of 40 have ties to the Centennial State. 

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