Latest news with #U.S.SkiTeam
Japan Times
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Japan Times
Lindsey Vonn feeling 'amazing' ahead of bid to make U.S. Olympic team at age 40
Lindsey Vonn, who is making a bid to get back to the Olympics at age 40, said Wednesday that her body felt better than it did seven years earlier when she last competed at the Winter Games. Vonn said a partial knee replacement last year helped her overall fitness and enabled her to seek a spot on the U.S. ski team for the Milano Cortina Olympics in February 2026. "My body feels amazing," Vonn said at an event hosted by U.S. Olympic broadcaster NBCUniversal. "Now that my knee is good again, I don't have any of the other problems," she added. "So my back's great. My body feels good. I feel better than I did in the last Olympics, by a lot actually." Vonn, who boasts 82 World Cup wins and counts one gold among her three Olympic medals, had retired in February 2019. In November 2024, Vonn announced she was planning a comeback. She earned a second-place finish in the super-G at the Women's World Cup Finals in March. "I have done everything I wanted to do in my career. This is not something that I ever expected," Vonn said of seeking to compete at the next Olympics. "I'm going in looking to enjoy the experience, looking to be at a place that I love, that I've had a lot of success at," she added. Climate change has prompted concerns about whether the Italian ski town of Cortina will have enough snow during the Games. Vonn said she was not worried about the conditions. "Cortina has historically been so good at making a perfect racetrack, whether it's man-made or natural snow," she said. "No matter what the condition, it will be pristine. I am 100% sure of that." American snowboarder Chloe Kim, who is chasing a third gold medal, also said she was preparing to handle any conditions. "I've competed in blizzards, no snow, too much snow, windy, too warm where the snow gets really slushy and grippy," Kim said. "I've been doing this since I was four years old. Hopefully those skills will get me through."
Forbes
25-03-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
Lauren Macuga Is On A Mission To Get More U.S. Girls Into Speed Skiing
USA's Lauren Macuga skis during the women's downhill training at the Audi FIS Ski World Cup Sun ... More Valley Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho on March 21, 2025. In her first-ever World Cup giant slalom race, 22-year-old Lauren Macuga showed off her rapidly improving technical skills—on one of skiing's biggest stages. The speedster spent the majority of this past offseason training to hone her overall skill set, with the goal of earning her first giant slalom start. Her 15th-place finish on Tuesday at the Sun Valley World Cup finals was high enough to earn her FIS points. It was a soft launch, if you will, of this discipline for the multifaceted skier. 'Now I can't wait for when I really want to tackle the GS World Cup,' Macuga said Tuesday. 'Like when I'm so set in the speed that I can go tackle that; I can't wait for it.' Ultimately, however, the speed disciplines—Super-G particularly—are what fill Macuga's cup. 'One run and go and it's done—that's fantastic, so I still love that,' she said. Saturday's World Cup finals downhill race was called off due to windy conditions, and Macuga took a DNF in Sunday's Super-G—another career first. But it was only because the Park City resident was pushing her limits, no doubt fired up racing alongside her longtime idol, Lindsey Vonn, who returned to ski racing this season five years after retiring. Vonn took second in Super-G on Sunday, emphatically demonstrating that, at 40, she still belongs at the highest levels of ski racing. It's been a breakout season for Macuga, who earned her first World Cup win in mid-Janguary, in Super-G in St. Anton, Austria. She then went on to take bronze in her first world championships. Ultimately, Macuga finished fourth in the standings in downhill and sixth in Super-G this season. Between Vonn, a living legend; 29-year-old Breezy Johnson, who took gold in the downhill at February's alpine skiing world championships; and rising star Macuga, there's a lot to love in the speed department on the U.S. Ski Team. But there's no question the U.S. women are currently technical specialists. In Tuesday's giant slalom, five of the 30 women on the start list were American. 'We need to get girls back in speed,' Macuga said. 'Yeah, it is scary; don't get me wrong, I cried before my first downhill in Sugarloaf, but now here I am overcoming that and having fun doing it. 'There are so many kids here [in Sun Valley]; I hope they see it and say, 'I want to do that, this looks fun.'' Between now and the Park City Olympics in 2034, where Macuga will be 31 and, she hopes, 'in her prime,' she hopes to see more homegrown downhill and Super-G talent develop in the U.S. And marquee events like the World Cup finals being held on U.S. soil are instrumental in creating that kind of growth. Lauren may not be the only Macuga going for Olympic gold when the Games arrive in her town. Siblings Sam and Alli are on the U.S. ski jumping and moguls national teams, respectively. Younger brother Daniel is a fellow alpine skier. What created this family of athletic prodigies? Good genes? A competitive mindset? Ultimately, the Macugas just find sliding around the snow really fun. And most of all, that's what Lauren hopes to impress upon the next generation. 'Growing up, that's all our mom said; 'If you're having fun, you can go do anything,'' Macuga said. 'But I think she really ingrained in us that we should enjoy it, and I think that's what gotten all of us where we are. '
NBC Sports
01-03-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Shiffrin discusses win 100 after road to recovery
Mikaela Shiffrin joins the Stifel Snow Show to discuss her 100th career World Cup victory after suffering a devastating injury earlier in the season, the state of the U.S. Ski Team and more.
Associated Press
16-02-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
It's not just Shiffrin and Vonn. The US Ski Team has multiple medal contenders for the Olympics
SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) — A year before the Winter Olympics, the U.S. Ski Team just had a performance to remember. The women's squad won medals in four out of five events at the world championships in Austria and also had two fourth places. The Americans finished fourth in the mixed team parallel. And the men just missed the podium with a fourth in the new team combined race. The only event the women did not win a medal in was the slalom, when Mikaela Shiffrin — the winningest slalom skier in history — placed fifth just behind teammate Paula Moltzan in fourth. With Lindsey Vonn expecting to be more competitive come the Milan-Cortina Olympics in 2026 as she regains speed in her comeback from nearly six years of retirement, the U.S. women have multiple medal contenders in every event. And the men in 2026 will be competing on a slope in Bormio where Ryan Cochran-Siegle has had some of the best results of his career. At the last Winter Games in Beijing three years ago, Cochran-Siegle won the Americans' only skiing medal with a silver in super-G while the women didn't bring home any hardware at all. 'I don't remember during the time that I've been skiing having this much depth,' Shiffrin said. 'It's been incredible to watch that build over the years and kind of culminating this world championships. And I hope it continues to build over the next year and the next several years.' Rising speed skier Lauren Macuga started things off with a bronze in super-G; Breezy Johnson took a stunning victory in the downhill and then teamed with Shiffrin to win another gold in the team combined; and Moltzan earned a bronze in giant slalom. Cochran-Siegle and partner Ben Ritchie came close to a medal when they finished one spot off the podium in combined. The U.S. team hasn't had this many medal threats since the days when Bode Miller, Ted Ligety, Vonn and Julia Mancuso were racing together. The 40-year-old Vonn saw the potential as soon as she rejoined the team. 'I'm really proud of all of them. Lauren is 22 and she's got a lot of amazing things ahead of her. And the fact that Breezy's back after her injury -- her knee is pretty bad -- the fact that she's world champion is incredibly impressive,' Vonn said. Women's skiing at the Olympics will be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, where Vonn holds the record of 12 World Cup wins and where Jacqueline Wiles, another U.S. downhiller, has been on the podium twice. 'I am really excited for the Olympics next year because across the board, we have a lot of talent and a lot of potential,' Vonn said. 'And I know we're going to do incredible things together.' Added Moltzan, 'I think we can medal in every event.' Cochran-Siegle earned the only World Cup victory of his career in Bormio four seasons ago and also has three other top-five finishes on the demanding Stelvio course. 'I'm hoping that as a team we're competitive,' Cochran-Siegle said. 'Nothing is given, everything is earned. But I'm hoping that it's a really good Olympic venue.'
