The usual pre-competition nerves were mostly replaced by excitement for Park City moguls skier Alli Macuga as she was in the starting gate during the first World Cup event of the season in Ruka, Finland, on Dec. 3. The 19-year-old was making her World Cup debut.
“There’s those pre-comp nerves, but this time, it was mostly excitement,” she said. “In the gate, it was that nervousness you could feel in your legs, but I also knew it was pure excitement. It really is kind of a surreal feeling to have, and I know I’ll probably have more of it coming into the next few World Cups, but definitely an insane feeling.”
Macuga skied away from her first World Cup event with a 12th-place finish. It’s the first of what she hopes will be a long list of World Cup competitions.
“Very excited, very stoked on my first World Cup – no complaints there,” Macuga said.
In the qualification round, Macuga made her way down the course and landed a pair of flashy tricks along the way. She finished her qualifying run with a score of 61.43, good enough for 15th place and to slide into the penultimate 16-woman final round. She was on the bubble, but she was also happy with how her run turned out.
“Definitely a little nervous, but I was super proud of my qualification run,” Macuga said. “I knew no matter where I ended up, I would be happy, but definitely pretty exciting to see I made the final.”
“Basically after my qualifications run, just hanging out with all my teammates at the bottom, watching everyone else go and watch what place I was in was so cool,” she added. “And then just to see I had qualified 15th for finals, which is top 16, was so exciting. All my teammates were very excited, so it was a thrilling part of my day.”
Macuga’s day ended with her next run. She landed in 12th place, which wasn’t enough to move on to the super finals. Still, as one of the younger skiers in the event, she proved she belonged.
“It’s cool to finally see myself competing with all the people I’ve idolized for so long,” Macuga said. “But also, I know that I’ve worked to get to where I am, so I know that I belong, so I can ski confidently.”
One way she proved herself was through her tricks. On her finals run, she upped the degree of difficulty by landing a back full and then a cork 720.
“Trying to show myself that I do belong there with all the people I’ve idolized the whole time I’ve been skiing moguls,” Macuga said. “Super proud of how far I’ve come with that and the fact that I could compete in my first World Cup.”
To make a special weekend even more special, Macuga was originally slated to compete in a World Cup the same weekend as her two older sisters, Sam and Lauren. Sam is a ski jumper, and she was in Lillehammer, Norway, for a ski jumping World Cup event. Lauren, an alpine skier, was slated to be in a World Cup race in Lake Louise, Canada, but did not start.
“It was crazy just to think that my sister, Sam, was competing in the ski jumping World Cup over in Lillehammer, and that she did good – she had a great result,” Macuga said. “Unfortunately, (Lauren) hit her head, so she couldn’t compete. But just the fact that I was going to be competing in a World Cup the same day as my sisters was pretty crazy to think about.”
Macuga is the latest Park City moguls skier to hit the World Cup stage. Parkites Nick Page and Cole McDonald are on the men’s national team, while Macuga, Sami Worthington and Kasey Hogg – who finished 22nd in Ruka – are on the women’s D Team. Page and Macuga came up through different programs – Page was in Wasatch Freestyle, and Macuga was in Park City Ski & Snowboard – but Page said they’ve spent more time together since Macuga made the national team.
“She killed it for her first World Cup,” Page said. “She came out and skied like a veteran in her very first event, so it was pretty cool to see, and she’s definitely going to have a long, prosperous career on the World Cup, I think.”
Macuga will be in Idre Fjall, Sweden, for the next stop on the World Cup circuit this weekend. She’s hoping to qualify for the World Cup event at Deer Valley in early February, but she said she’ll have to go through U.S. Selections first. However, her first World Cup experience was a success.
“Just all the vibes at the bottom and to see even what the start gate looked like and to see myself skiing into it was super exciting,” Macuga said. “Definitely went, if anything, better than I imagined.”