FIS Rookie of the Year moguls skier Alli Macuga put down some nice lines in the inch of freshly fallen snow, zipping down the mountain on her ID One moguls skis. As we traversed down through the light snowfall to Silver Strike Express at Deer Valley, I breathed a sigh of relief that the bumps run down Champion was closed. The last thing I needed was for her to entice me into a moguls lesson.
A personable, outgoing 20-year-old, Alli Macuga clearly loves being out on the mountain. It’s an extension of growing up in a quintessential Park City family where the kids were raised skiing family-style on the ridgelines surrounding their hometown.
This week, on the perilously steep Olympic bump run Champion, Alli Macuga will replace the jitters and fears of her Deer Valley debut a year ago with the confidence of being a top contender. She’s part of what is arguably one of the deepest U.S. women’s moguls teams ever, ready to take on the best in the world coming to Utah for the favorite World Cup of the year for the freestyle tour.
The Macuga family embodies the culture of sport that pervades our community, a legacy extending out from the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. While Alli picked her pathway in freestyle moguls, sister Sam is soaring her way on the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup tour, recently competing in Zao, Japan. Her other sister, Lauren, is a rising star on the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team, knocking off a top-10 World Cup finish earlier this month in Austria. Meanwhile, younger brother Daniel is coming up through the alpine NorAm Cup circuit with Park City Ski & Snowboard.
Macuga laughs about how she and her siblings ended up in different sports — three sisters on three different national teams.
“I don’t know, honestly, just luck because I think if we were in the same sport … oh, it’d be crazy,” she said, shaking her head. “I mean, we are already extremely competitive, but if we all did the same one, it would be crazy.”
The Macugas showcase the value of programs like the Youth Sports Alliance’s Get Out and Play. So, how did she land in moguls?
“We all tried different stuff. I tried basically everything — slopestyle, ski jumping, aerials, halfpipe, big air, skier cross, big mountain,” she said. “But with moguls, I think I just liked the fact that you could jump, there’s the speed aspect, there’s the turn aspect. I enjoyed that I could do everything I’d been doing in other sports in that one sport.”
When she started competing around 8 or 9 years old, she knew she had found her passion. “I was like, ‘Oh, I love this!'”
Growing up in Park City, it’s easy to rub shoulders with best in the world athletes. Olympic medalists Shannon Bahrke and Hannah Kearney were two big motivators for her — “Just how much they pushed the sport, how successful they were. It was just very inspiring for me.”
When Macuga was in fourth grade, Bahrke came to speak to her class. And she used to go to the gym with Kearney as a strength coach. “They were both very approachable.”
Like kids in any sport, she watched videos of past stars like original Olympic champion Donna Weinbrecht, who won gold in 1992 with a daffy twister spread.
“You see just how much the sport has been pushed, especially with women doing corks and cork grabs — it’s so huge,” she said.
A year ago, under the lights on Champion, in front of her hometown family and fans, Macuga got her chance.
“I had been waiting for that moment since I was 8 years old,” she reminisced. “Standing at the top of the course for finals in the dark, seeing the huge crowd at the bottom, I was just so excited for everyone to be there watching.”
This week, the two-time junior world champion will have that chance again. She’ll also have the experience of her first podium a month ago at Alpe d’Huez, France.
“I’ve been working for that (podium) since I was 8 and finally getting to that point where I know I can compete with the best skiers,” she said of that day in France. “I just burst into tears the second I crossed the line — I worked so hard for this.”
With three daughters on three national teams, mom Amy and father Dan are known to rack up airline miles following their daughters and son around the planet.
“I just love it when they’re there,” said Alli. But this week it’s homecoming with the Macuga clan having front-row seats for the Intermountain Health Freestyle International Ski World Cup at Deer Valley.