SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM – First major championship. First event. First medal.
Lauren Macuga certainly didn’t waste any time making an impact at the Alpine skiing world championships.
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The 22-year-old American earned bronze in super-G on Thursday and quickly celebrated with a little dance in the finish area, rocking her arms up and down before bowing to the Austrian crowd.
Dancing celebrations have become a thing in skiing this season since Lucas Pinheiro Braathen performed a snow samba to celebrate Brazil’s first podium in December.
“Well, I couldn’t pull that off. I don’t have his dancing skills. But I do like weird dance moves,” Macuga said. “I was hoping to be on the podium today, but I wasn’t expecting it. So I was like, ‘OK, I got to do something here.’”
Known for her colorful bucket hats and American-flag patterned pants and shirts, the outgoing Macuga — pronounced Mah-SUE-guh — is quickly becoming a fan favorite.
“It’s so important to show the fun side of skiing,” she said. “I know when to turn on the fun and kind of dial it back to be more serious.”
Macuga was the fastest skier on the top section of the Ulli Maier course, flying nearly 30 yards (27 meters) off a jump 30 seconds into her run and clocking 76 mph (122 kph) before holding on to tie for third with Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway, 0.24 seconds behind race winner Stephanie Venier of Austria.
“I felt like I was going fast. I came off that jump, I was like, ‘I’m flying, my gosh, you better keep moving,’” Macuga said.
It was just the start of a big day in the Macuga family, where all four siblings — three sisters and a brother — are accomplished skiers on U.S. teams.
Alli Macuga was competing in a moguls competitions later back home in Utah; Sam Macuga was ski jumping in Lake Placid, New York; and Daniel was in the middle of a Nor-Am Alpine skiing competition in Kimberley, British Columbia.
Amy and Dan, the Macugas' parents, were doing their best to keep tabs on everyone.
Amy was cheering on Lauren in Austria while Dan was with Alli in Deer Valley.
“We’re kind of all over the place right now,” Lauren said. “Have to split up. Divide and conquer.”
All of the siblings hope to be in the same country a year from now and competing at the Milan-Cortina Olympics. Thursday marked exactly one year before the Feb. 6, 2026, opening ceremony.
Still in the middle of her breakout season, Lauren doesn’t have a sponsor on her helmet like most of the top skiers do. Instead, she’s been racing with a question mark printed on her headgear.
“I’m trying to get a sponsor that wants a crazy person that loves bucket hats,” she said.
The playfulness on the ski circuit brings to mind the way Julia Mancuso, another American great who won Olympic gold and multiple world championship medals, used to celebrate by putting on a tiara.
Lauren won a super-G in St. Anton, Austria, last month for her first World Cup victory and now she’s done something that not even Lindsey Vonn or Mikaela Shiffrin did: win a medal in their first race at their first major championship.
Vonn’s debut at the biggest competition outside of the Olympics came in 2005 when she finished ninth in the super-G, before going on to claim two fourth-place finishes that year. Shiffrin finished sixth in the giant slalom in her debut in 2013 and then went on to win gold in slalom two days later at the age of 17.
Vonn was on hand to celebrate Macuga’s achievement in a race where the 40-year-old American great got hooked on a gate early in her run.
“She’s a really free-spirited person and she’s got her own style — and I love it,” Vonn said. “She’s very authentic to herself and she believes in herself and she works really, really hard. So she deserves it. And she’s just an amazing talent. … This is just the beginning for her.
“All of her siblings are insane athletes,” Vonn added. “Something must run in the family.”
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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing