Forgive Dan and Amy Macuga in the event that they should seek the advice of a spreadsheet to determine the place their kids are.
That is a kind of issues that occurs when your three women are all skiers on the within observe to make the U.S. Olympic crew. There’s a boy, too, who additionally skis competitively and should finally find yourself on the U.S. crew, however not in 2026.
Ah, however we digress. For the following 16 months or so, the Macuga sisters of Park Metropolis, Utah (the place else?), are going to be including their very own chapter to the story of standout sports activities siblings. You’ve heard of the Manning brothers (soccer) and the Williams sisters (tennis) and the Korda crew (golf and tennis). Alpine snowboarding had Phil and Steve Mahre method again when.
However right here’s what makes the Macugas completely different: By the mixed forces of getting completely different physique sorts, completely different pursuits and doubtless a wholesome dose of the self-preservation intuition that led them to not wish to compete in opposition to one another, every Macuga pursued a distinct snowboarding self-discipline. The outcome: Whenever you meet them, there’s a little bit of a “Sound of Music” vibe to the Macugas, if the Von Trapp household had been crammed with skiers somewhat than singers.
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“I’m Sam, I’m 23, and I prefer to fly,” says Sam Macuga the ski jumper.
“I’m Lauren, I’m 22, and I prefer to go quick.” That’s Lauren Macuga, the alpine racer.
“And I’m Alli, and I’m 21, and I like all points, so I do moguls.”
Like Lauren, Daniel Macuga, the child of the household at 19, skis alpine. He doesn’t compete internationally but, so he’s a bit extra manageable. He would possibly even attend a U.S.-based faculty full-time first. Time, and outcomes, will inform.
Their endeavors all have a little bit of overlap. Alpine skiers fly 60 meters within the air over jumps. Mogul skiers go fairly darn quick whereas they race over huge bumps whereas incorporating flips and different methods into their runs. And there could also be no scarier beginning gate than the one atop ski leaping’s massive hill.
Three sisters on one Olympic crew could be any mum or dad’s dream. Three sisters in basically three completely different sports activities in a single Olympics is a parenting psychologist’s dream, because the women have mainly by no means competed in opposition to each other, besides in Mario Kart and card video games.
“Once we play video games collectively, it’s so aggressive,” Lauren Macuga stated. “If we have been all in the identical sport, it might not be attainable.”
Lauren Macuga completed fourth within the downhill in Saturday’s World Cup occasion in Beaver Creek, Colo. (Sean M. Haffey / Getty Photos)
All of it occurred very organically, too. After shifting to Park Metropolis in 2007, the Macugas signed up their children for the area’s Get Out and Play winter sports activities program, a legacy of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake Metropolis that gives low cost entry to winter Olympic sports activities for youngsters within the area. Every sister favored one thing else. Their dad and mom didn’t complain.
“They form of self-selected,” stated Dan Macuga, a advertising govt who has labored with Chevrolet and Usana. “We’ve at all times advised them, ‘So long as you’re having enjoyable, simply hold doing what you’re doing.’ It’s not likely our choice to make. It’s what makes them completely satisfied, and so they selected the game that they wished to do.”
Logisticswise although, the Macuga household chronicles have lengthy been an train in organizational mayhem.
For years, that meant counting on pals and different dad and mom to get a few of their children to the suitable mountain on the proper time. Lately, the assorted U.S. ski groups handle that half.
The dad and mom simply should strive to determine what continent and nation they should be in to meet up with the kids. There’s a Google Sheet crammed out months forward of time with everybody’s schedule.
What’s taking place within the coming days?
Based on the sheet, on Thursday, Sam is scheduled to be in Engelberg, Switzerland, making ready for qualification the following day. Lauren can be coaching in St. Moritz, preparing for Saturday’s Tremendous-G race; Alli is coaching for the weekend’s moguls competitors in Georgia — the nation not the state — after touring from Alpe D’huez in France the day earlier than; father Dan Macuga and Amy are flying to Zurich that afternoon. Daniel, the little brother, is dwelling on obligation with the canine, Yuki, a Siberian husky, and Bowser, a “megamutt,” in keeping with the women. The 4 cats form of handle themselves.
The spreadsheet is essentially for the dad and mom’ use. The kids have their very own strategies.
“My teammates can be like, ‘Oh, the place’s your brother? The place are your sisters?’” Alli Macuga stated. “I’m like, ‘I don’t know, someplace internationally? I believe they’re in Europe. Possibly like Japan, or like Norway or, I don’t know, Germany.’ It’s at all times only a guessing sport. Or I’ll verify Discover My Pals (app) and be like, ‘Oh, that’s the place they’re.’”
“Yeah, Discover My Pals is our hero,” Sam Macuga stated.
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Alli and Lauren discovered themselves in the identical resort in Chile this summer season for per week of coaching. That was bizarre. Mainly by no means occurs.
As soon as they work out the place one another is, generally they understand a sister is competing at that very second. They are going to faucet away on their varied devices till they discover a reside stream of the competitors someplace and cheer alongside from 1000’s of miles away.
Alli, the mogul specialist, has posted the very best outcomes of the household thus far, although Lauren confirmed indicators that she could be approaching quick. Racing the famed Birds of Prey observe at Beaver Creek in Colorado over the weekend, she completed fourth within the downhill and twelfth in Tremendous-G. Within the downhill, she missed her first spot on a World Cup podium by 0.18 seconds.
If she retains that up, she can be following within the footsteps of Alli, who has come a bit out of nowhere the previous couple of years to turn into one of many U.S. crew’s rising stars.
Mogul specialist Alli Macuga has been the highest performer of the household thus far, aiming for a spot on the 2026 Olympic crew. (Sarah Stier / Getty Photos)
She landed on two podiums final season and completed fifth on this planet rankings and has two top-15 finishes to begin this World Cup season. There’s not an excessive amount of thriller surrounding her success. Throughout her early teenagers, she favored freestyle snowboarding a lot she competed in seven completely different disciplines, the whole lot from “massive air,” which goes off one big bounce and doing a little flips and spins, to “massive mountain,” which requires flying down a steep descent crammed with cliffs and horrifying drops.
“I used to be continually competing and touring and never coaching,” she stated.
She determined to decide on the 2 she favored most, which have been moguls and massive mountain. However at 17, on the junior world championships in massive mountain in Switzerland, she crashed on a cliff and fractured her again. That just about ended her massive mountain profession.
Two seasons in the past, she was supposed to simply have just a few begins on the top-tier World Cup circuit and spend the remainder of the season competing a stage down on the Nor-Am Tour. Then she completed twelfth in her first World Cup begin. She ended up getting the World Cup Rookie of the 12 months award and in addition successful the Nor-Am tour.
She’s fairly certain that not specializing in a single self-discipline too quickly and people early years making an attempt out alpine and leaping along with her sisters have performed an enormous function in her success.
“All of them contributed to one another,” she stated.
Lauren Macuga stated she received hooked on velocity snowboarding when her coach threw her right into a downhill race in Sugarloaf in Maine when she was 16. Almost all children begin out snowboarding gates and don’t transfer into the velocity disciplines till they’re older.
Lauren had by no means raced downhill earlier than. She shortly found that the race mainly occurs on ice, somewhat than snow. She did her first coaching run totally clothed, wanting some safety in case she fell. She wore pants throughout the second.
Her coach advised her to goal for ending inside two seconds of the leaders. She completed slightly greater than a second behind them and received hooked on the adrenaline rush.
The shift to competing in Europe on the highest stage has been an schooling. American mountains, particularly within the decrease rungs of competitors, don’t have the icy steeps of Europe, with jumps over waterfalls and different high-octane challenges. One take a look at the left-right mixture of the “Scorching Air” bounce in Zauchensee, Austria, final yr and she or he thought it could be the tip of her.
“At first and also you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I simply wish to make it down,’” she stated. “I assume the worry issue simply form of turned extra into, it was enjoyable.”
A season-best fifth-place end in Tremendous-G in Kvitfjell, Norway, final season went a long way towards that transformation.
Sam Macuga has additional to go to get to that stage. The U.S. doesn’t have the historical past of success in ladies’s ski leaping that it does in alpine and freestyle. Girls didn’t compete within the Olympics till 2014, and funding for an American leaping crew will be arduous to return by.
However she’s already accumulating factors towards a spot on the U.S. crew for 2026. Her slight construct has at all times been well-suited to leaping, the place being gentle will help you soar. She’s additionally received a technical thoughts and research electrical engineering at Dartmouth for 1 / 4 every year.
Plus, there may be this:
“I prefer to fly,” she stated.
That’s not at all times the form of factor a mum or dad likes to listen to. And there isn’t a lot consolation with the opposite children, given Alli’s mid-slope flips and Lauren and Daniel tearing down sheets of ice at 80 mph.
No matter, the Macugas are used to it.
Amy Macuga says she will get nervous for them within the beginning gate however not out of worry of an damage.
“They hit the bottom fairly arduous, and like several mum or dad, you’ll be able to have that inkling to begin working towards them, however you additionally know that with the crew that they’re in good arms,” Dan Macuga stated. “You understand that folks (are) taking excellent care of them and wouldn’t allow them to do one thing that they thought it was gonna harm them.”
Plus, they’ve a spreadsheet to handle, which is sufficient to fear about.
“We used to function off a whiteboard,” Lauren Macuga stated. “We’ve got upgraded.”
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(High photograph of, from left, Alli, Lauren, Amy, Dan and Sam Macuga on the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Gold Medal Gala in New York in October 2023: Michael Loccisano / Getty Photos)