USA’s Lauren Macuga skis during the women’s downhill training at the Audi FIS Ski World Cup Sun … More
AFP via Getty ImagesIn her first-ever World Cup giant slalom race, 22-year-old Lauren Macuga showed off her rapidly improving technical skills—on one of skiing’s biggest stages.
The speedster spent the majority of this past offseason training to hone her overall skill set, with the goal of earning her first giant slalom start. Her 15th-place finish on Tuesday at the Sun Valley World Cup finals was high enough to earn her FIS points.
It was a soft launch, if you will, of this discipline for the multifaceted skier. “Now I can’t wait for when I really want to tackle the GS World Cup,” Macuga said Tuesday. “Like when I’m so set in the speed that I can go tackle that; I can’t wait for it.”
Ultimately, however, the speed disciplines—Super-G particularly—are what fill Macuga’s cup. “One run and go and it’s done—that’s fantastic, so I still love that,” she said.
Saturday’s World Cup finals downhill race was called off due to windy conditions, and Macuga took a DNF in Sunday’s Super-G—another career first. But it was only because the Park City resident was pushing her limits, no doubt fired up racing alongside her longtime idol, Lindsey Vonn, who returned to ski racing this season five years after retiring.
Vonn took second in Super-G on Sunday, emphatically demonstrating that, at 40, she still belongs at the highest levels of ski racing.
It’s been a breakout season for Macuga, who earned her first World Cup win in mid-Janguary, in Super-G in St. Anton, Austria. She then went on to take bronze in her first world championships. Ultimately, Macuga finished fourth in the standings in downhill and sixth in Super-G this season.
Between Vonn, a living legend; 29-year-old Breezy Johnson, who took gold in the downhill at February’s alpine skiing world championships; and rising star Macuga, there’s a lot to love in the speed department on the U.S. Ski Team.
But there’s no question the U.S. women are currently technical specialists. In Tuesday’s giant slalom, five of the 30 women on the start list were American.
“We need to get girls back in speed,” Macuga said. “Yeah, it is scary; don’t get me wrong, I cried before my first downhill in Sugarloaf, but now here I am overcoming that and having fun doing it.
“There are so many kids here [in Sun Valley]; I hope they see it and say, ‘I want to do that, this looks fun.’”
Between now and the Park City Olympics in 2034, where Macuga will be 31 and, she hopes, “in her prime,” she hopes to see more homegrown downhill and Super-G talent develop in the U.S. And marquee events like the World Cup finals being held on U.S. soil are instrumental in creating that kind of growth.
Lauren may not be the only Macuga going for Olympic gold when the Games arrive in her town. Siblings Sam and Alli are on the U.S. ski jumping and moguls national teams, respectively. Younger brother Daniel is a fellow alpine skier.
What created this family of athletic prodigies? Good genes? A competitive mindset?
Ultimately, the Macugas just find sliding around the snow really fun. And most of all, that’s what Lauren hopes to impress upon the next generation.
“Growing up, that’s all our mom said; ‘If you’re having fun, you can go do anything,’” Macuga said. “But I think she really ingrained in us that we should enjoy it, and I think that’s what gotten all of us where we are. ”
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