The World Cup Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, this past week provided a rare opportunity for nearly all six members of the Macuga family to gather together.
Parents Amy and Dan Macuga were joined by oldest daughter Sam, the ski jumper, and Alli, the mogul skier, to watch Lauren ski the speed events in the finals. The three siblings are all on the U.S. ski team, all wearing team USA parkas, each in different ski disciplines. Daniel, the youngest, was not able to make the trip to Sun Valley since he was racing at Beaver Creek, Colorado.
All four Macuga kids were members of the Park City Ski and Snowboard club, Youth Sports Alliance activities and attended the Winter Sports School in Park City. They have lived on the Wasatch Back for the past 15 years.
Sam, the firstborn at 24, has been on the U.S. ski jumping team since 2019. In 2022-23 she finished in seventh place four times in events at Lake Placid and Notodden, Norway. In 2023, she captured the bronze medal at the U.S. National Championship.
Lauren, the speed skier, is 22 and has been on the U.S. ski team since 2020. In what has been described as her breakout year in 2023-24, she finished in fitth place in the Super-G at Kvitfjell, Norway, and also grabbed a seventh and 10th place that season. This season, she reached the podium twice in World Cup events. She won the Super-G at St. Anton, Austria, a first for an American woman, and came in second in the downhill in Kvitfjell, Norway.
Alli, 21, the mogul skier, has been on the team since 2022. She had four top 10s and a fourth that season. In 2022-23 she was the overall singles and dual moguls champion in the NorAm Cup, which qualified her for World Cup competition the following year. In 2023-24, Alli finished the season ranked fifth in the world. Her best finish in 2025 was eighth at Deer Valley.
Daniel, 19, the youngest of the skiing Macuga kids, skis with Park City Ski and Snowboard and favors the speed events, but he also participates in slalom and giant slalom. He is undecided about next season, considering college options or racing.
A year and a half ago, Sun Valley learned that they would host the FIS Alpine World Cup Finals this year. It would be the first time the finals have been hosted in the United States since 2017. Last summer the resort sculpted a new downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom course on the Warm Springs side of Bald Mountain.
For the Macuga family, it was chance to watch Lauren in the downhill, Super-G and giant slalom. However, things didn’t quite go according to plan. The downhill was canceled due to high winds on Saturday, she skied off course on the Super-G Sunday, and Tuesday in her first giant slalom, she finished 15th.
Still, the clan was all smiles Sunday and eager to share in the race experience on a world stage.
The Park Record got a chance to to visit with them Sunday afternoon after the super-G finished and teammate Lindsey Vonn capped her comeback season after a long retirement with a resounding second place at the age of 40.
PR — Talk a little bit about being parents of athletes who perform on the world stage.
Dan Macuga (dad) — I will tell you, it’s something you would never expect to happen, and when it does, it’s fantastic. I mean, it’s just so fun. Like to watch Lauren, anyone come across the finish line, smiling. You’re like, that’s what you want. They’re having fun. After the DNF (did not finish), she was super smiling. But you know what I told her, Lauren, I said, you’re still sixth in the world. I said, that’s OK. Yeah, you had a bad day, but you’re still a rock star.
Amy Macuga (mom) — I was in tears, I got teary at the national anthem just being at the event. Was like, oh, like, you have to just pause and soak it all in, right? And just experience the moment and with what they’re doing. It’s unbelievable. We’re on this, like, crazy, amazing ride. And, yeah, you just have to appreciate every moment. So yeah, it was just full of pride, and she’s worked hard. It’s one race at a time, right? I don’t know, we never expected to be here, but all of a sudden we’re here.
Sam Macuga — Well, I cried when she was in the start. I was so excited. I’ve been on the World Cup level, and it’s exciting to do it, but it’s also so fun to see them. This is so cool. What an event. And Lauren’s starting, and I’ve never gotten to see her start in a World Cup. It was awesome, especially because a World Cup race in person is way more intimidating than what it looks like on TV. I wouldn’t race that (Sun Valley downhill course). You couldn’t pay me to do it.
Alli Macuga — I was like, this is so wild watching both of them since they’ve been on the team before me and done World Cups before me. I’m like, this is so cool because they’ve inspired me for so much of the stuff I do in skiing. She’s so bad ass. When we first drove up and I saw the course, I was oh my God, that’s insane.
PR — Lauren what did you think of the Sun Valley Challenger course?
Lauren Macuga — Oh, my gosh. Well, it was intimidating coming up, but then it was, it’s so fun. I loved the downhill side. It was better for the women’s. It flows a little bit easier for us, but I think it’s so cool. And I hope we just keep coming here, because it’s so unique. And the crowd, the people, the the town, are so excited to have us big time.
Mom Amy explained that she lives on airplanes in a big way all because of her kids and their passion to ski for the U.S. team.
PR — So what do your recent and upcoming travel plans look like?
Amy Macuga (mom) — The most recent was I went to Norway, and then I flew into Trondheim and saw Sam at World Championships. Then I drove to see Lauren at Kvitfjell, Norway. Drove back to Trondheim to see Sam, then I flew to Montreal to see Alli in Val Saint Come and then drove to Sugarloaf (Maine) to see Daniel at NorAms. Then we both drove to Montreal and flew home. And this was last week. We have four different cars up here. I’m going to drive to Palisades Tahoe to watch Alli at Nationals. Then Alli and I are going to fly from Reno to San Francisco. Meet up with Lauren. We’re going to fly to Japan, go to a Rossignal event in Japan. All three of us will fly back to Reno, go to spring series, and Daniel’s going to meet us there with the team. So the four of us will be there. Sam will be at Dartmouth going to school, and Dan (dad) will be home with all the pets. And then Lauren’s taking the car to Mammoth for a ski camp, and we’re flying home, and then April 15, we’re done, done, done. I don’t go to their training camps. We’re like, we’re going to go to the Maldives (followed with a chorus of laughter by the everyone in the family).
PR — Was the international ski life a part of the family plan?
Dan Macuga (dad) — It just happened. And I remember we were there. This goes back years ago. We started, we watched a Continental Cup at Olympic Park. And Sam, she was this big (holding is hand at waist high). We watched this. And I like, wow, there’s no way our kids are going to do that like ever. I mean, that’s ridiculous. And then it happens, and you’re like, What the heck? I remember Sam made the national team, and then Lauren was like, well, I want to be on the national team. Lauren made the national team. Ali goes, well, I want to make the national team. It just kind of, you know that it just kind of happened, and for us, we’ve just kind of been like day to day. You can’t sum it up any other way than day to day.
PR — Lauren and Alli, when you saw older sister Sam pursue competitive skiing, did that inspire you?
Lauren Macuga — When she made the team. We were like, wow, we didn’t really know that was a thing. I didn’t know there was a team to make hoping to go to the Olympics. Apparently, you have to make the U.S. ski team to go there. I was like, that’s insane. She’s doing all this hard work and everything. And then, sure enough, we both followed right behind, yeah.
Alli Macuga — Honestly, when she (Sam) made it, I didn’t really think of like, oh, I want to do that more. Was just like, I don’t really understand what this means. It sounds really cool and really official. And I was like, she’s still having fun, but she’s skiing really well. And then Lauren did it too. And I was like, oh, wait, I get this now. Like, this is a super cool opportunity.
PR — All four of your kids participated in the Youth Sports Alliance programs and Park City Ski and Snowboard Club correct? So living in Park City has a lot to with this?
Amy Macuga — Oh 100%, yeah, it takes a village, especially ski jumping and, well, all of it, we have Park City set up from the Olympics. They all did the Get Out and Play program (at Youth Sports Alliance). We’ve been highly involved in Jans Winter Welcome.
Dan Macuga — It’s a great program because skiing is not cheap. But we wanted to put ourselves in a position to help other kids to do it too, because you never know who’s going to be the one next person. And so it’s been fun to be part of that.
Amy Macuga — And really what you want is people that enjoy skiing. I mean, skiing is a lifelong activity. That was our goal.
Dan Macuga — Well, one of the biggest things for us, and we always say, it takes a village, right? And the town has been amazing, supporting everything, … helping them out. But the bigger thing is just taking care of the kids. And it’s not just our kids. It’s all of them. That’s what it’s all about. If they’re having fun, we’d love being a part of it.
PR — And now you are really involved with the U.S. ski team. What has that experience been like?
Dan Macuga — Yes, elbow deep. They have done an amazing job over the last few years, just growing the whole thing the community. Sophie (Goldschmidt), the CEO, she’s fantastic. I mean, they have really embraced the kids and what they’re doing. But more importantly, they’re digging deeper into the into the pool, like how far down can we start to help these kids get through, and we have unique perspective because we’ve got alpine ski jumping and moguls and they’re very different communities. I mean, rightfully so. They’re doing different things, but we have a unique perspective that others don’t have. It’s really fun to watch them with their teams and kind of how they’ve interacted with each other and get along.
