Lauren Macuga broke through with her first Alpine skiing World Cup victory, becoming the youngest American to win a World Cup speed race since Lindsey Vonn in 2007.
Macuga, 22, took a super-G by 68 hundredths of a second in St. Anton, Austria, on Sunday. She’s the first U.S. woman other than Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin to win a World Cup race since Alice McKennis Duran on this date in 2013 (also in St. Anton). In the last 12 years, Shiffrin won 97 times and Vonn won 25 times.
Macuga, whose best previous World Cup finish was fourth, reacted after crossing the finish by putting her hand to her mouth and then screaming. She was in such disbelief that she didn’t know whether the number next to her name was a 1 or a 10.
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Vonn placed fourth Sunday, 1.24 seconds behind, improving again in her third World Cup race since ending a five-year retirement at age 40. She was 14th and then sixth in her first two comeback races.
Vonn was second-fastest at Sunday’s last intermediate split — three tenths of a second slower than Macuga — before losing time in the last 25 seconds of the course.
“It was a crazy run today,” said Vonn, the oldest woman to finish in the top 30 of a World Cup race, let alone the top five. “I mean, it was really bumpy. The light was really flat when I went. It was sunny, and then when I was in the starting gate, it got dark, and I didn’t even have time to change my goggles. But, you know, I think it was a really good step forward.”
Vonn took a Polaroid-type picture of Macuga in the leader’s chair after the victory became official. Vonn predicted it’s the “first win of many” and told her, “You crushed it. I’m so proud of you. Now, don’t go back from here. It’s only up.”
“She’s my idol,” Macuga said of Vonn in an interview with Austrian broadcaster ORF.
Macuga, a native of Park City, Utah, is the 2022 World Junior Championships downhill bronze medalist.
She debuted on the World Cup in 2021 and made the jump in 2024: personal-best finishes in January (10th), March (seventh and fifth) and December (fourth in the Beaver Creek downhill).
She raced this weekend with a large question mark on the front of her helmet, a place that is typically adorned with a sponsor logo for the world’s top skiers.
“This is a dream,” Macuga, nicknamed “Cougs” though it’s pronounced “muh-SOO-guh,” said of her victory while wearing a stars-and-stripes bucket hat. “I’ve been dreaming of this forever.
“After the last two super-G races, I knew I had the potential to ski on the podium. I just had to do a run without mistakes. I had a mistake in Beaver Creek (12th place on Dec. 15) and a mistake in St. Moritz (seventh on Dec. 21). I did that today. I knew it was there. I mean, I didn’t think it was going to be today. I was hoping, and here we are.”
Macuga and her two sisters are all 2026 Olympic hopefuls.
Alli, 21, is a World Cup podium finisher in moguls. Sam, 23, is a World Cup ski jumper.
They are products of Park City’s Get Out & Play youth sports program, a legacy project of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games (where Vonn made her Olympic debut at age 17, five months before Lauren Macuga was born on the Fourth of July).
Their 19-year-old brother, Daniel, is also an up-and-coming Alpine skier.
Three siblings have competed on the same U.S. Winter Olympic team twice, according to Bill Mallon of the OlyMADMen: Alpine skiers Barbara, Bob and Marilyn Cochran in 1972 and bobsledders Curtis, Hubert and Paul Stevens in 1932.
While Alli and Sam are in tight early competition for their disciplines’ Olympic teams, Lauren is now the highest-ranked American speed skier. She was asked her next goal.
“Stay on top,” she said with a laugh.
The women’s Alpine World Cup heads next weekend to the 2026 Olympic site of Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, for a downhill and super-G.
Vonn has 12 career World Cup wins in Cortina, the most of any skier.
“I think I’m in a good place,” Vonn said. “I really wanted to keep building every day on my results, and I think it’s perfect timing coming into Cortina. I feel really confident. My equipment is getting better every day. My confidence is there, and now I just have to get that last 10, 15 percent that I know I can get to. I have a lot of confidence in Cortina, so I hope I can put everything together there.”
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