Parkite Lauren Macuga is fine-tuning her skiing out at Colorado’s Copper Mountain, the U.S. downhill ski team’s preseason training base. Macuga will spend about two weeks in total at Copper before heading over to Beaver Creek for the first World Cup of her season. The 22 year old is looking to make waves in her third season on the pro circuit. She hopes to climb from 43rd in the world, where she finished last season, to top 25 at the end of this year. Top 25 finishes in her disciplines — downhill and super-G — would see her qualify for the year-end world championships and also take a huge step toward making the 2026 Olympic team. Macuga feels as the training she’s done thus far at Copper has her ready to chase this year’s goals. “I’m excited to go racing,” said Macuga, “but I’m excited that we have a few more days of training leading up to it, just to really refine all the skills and be race-ready.”Macuga’s idol, Lindsey Vonn, made waves last week when she announced her decision to come out of a five-year retirement. Like Macuga, Vonn is also a downhill and super-G racer, with Olympic medals in both events. Vonn was a more-than-welcome addition to the team for many of the athletes like Macuga who grew up aspiring to follow in her footsteps. Macuga had never met Vonn. She joined the U.S. team the year after the superstar’s retirement. Vonn, Macuga and the rest of the women have largely been working on their specialties in training. They’ve also sprinkled in giant slalom work to keep their technique sharp. They hit the gym in the afternoons. Lauren Macuga (left) and her U.S. alpine teammates share a chairlift ride at Copper Mountain in Colorado, during their preseason training block over the last few weeks. Credit: Courtesy of Lauren Macuga“It’s very exciting to be training with her right now and be on the same team with her,” said Macuga on Vonn. “We’ve done about four or five days so far with her. It’s been great to watch her, see her and how one of the best skiers in the world functions and gets ready to go training. Then, how she is on the hill, it’s pretty impressive for five years off and the knee replacement. She looks good.”Macuga and the team hope for a strong showing at Beaver Creek before jetting off to Europe all winter. The downhill, super-G and giant slalom men will compete at Beaver Creek Dec. 6-8. Macuga won’t return stateside until March, hopefully in time for the Sun Valley world championships March 20-27.Macuga shared excitement to gun for the new HERoic Cup and subsequent $50,000 cash prize, to be awarded to the women’s alpine skier who earns the most points throughout the three U.S. World Cups. She thinks the Cup will draw more attention to the women’s side of the sport. Macuga also would like to use Beaver Creek as a springboard of success for the rest of the season. “Beaver Creek is interesting. We don’t normally have three training runs leading into a World Cup,” added Macuga. “It’ll be exciting to have that on the new hill. … It’ll be nice to watch the men leading into it; we get to see how they’re running it.”Beaver Creek should provide softer, slower conditions than the European Cups. Macuga seems to have her travel routine all ironed out by year three on tour. She mentioned sleeping whenever she can and traveling with her pillow from home as some ways that she eases the difficulty. Macuga’s two sisters, Alli and Sam, travel on the moguls and ski jumping circuits themselves. The Macuga family is going to meet up for Christmas. Lauren said that her mom assembled a family calendar with all of their competition schedules for the winter. Lauren doesn’t think she’ll have time to catch her sisters competing this winter, unfortunately, as she did last year with a break in her schedule. As for any favorite stops along the tour this winter, Macuga mentioned Kitzbuehel in late January. “We always have had so much on there as a team,” said Macuga. “There’s nothing up there. All the athletes stay in one hotel on the mountain. It gets really fun … and it went well for me there last year.”Macuga shared that the women’s alpine team is feeling optimistic about the chances of winning their year-end Nations Cup, awarded to the country who wins the most points. While the season is young and there haven’t been any speed races yet, the team sits in first place, 75 points clear of second-place Austria. The team finished 2024 fourth in the Nations Cup standings. To follow Macuga’s results this season, see her FIS page. To locate where to watch all of the Cups this season, see the U.S. Ski Team’s website. The post Parkite Lauren Macuga preparing for World Cup season at Colorado’s Copper Mountain appeared first on Park Record.