Macuga Seventh in Kvitfjell Super-G
Lauren Macuga clocked yet another personal best result in the 2023-24 season, this time in the Kvitfjell, Norway super-G that replaced the scheduled initial downhill on Saturday, March 2. Macuga finished seventh overall, her second top-10 result in a World Cup, besting her result in the Zauchensee super-G earlier in the season.
She started in bib 4, another first for the 21-year-old; as in the past, she's only ever skied closer to the back of the pack, never higher than bib 20. When Macuga came to the finish, she was ecstatic.
"Skiing in the top 10 is where it's at," she exclaimed. "Oh my god, it was so fun. You don't realize how much of a game-changer a clean course is. I'm used to running in the back of the pack, and it's so nice to run a full, clean course where you can go. You don't get to watch as many racers. So you have to trust your plan and put everything out there."
Macuga was 1.01 seconds off of the day's winner, Lara Gut-Behrami, who currently leads the super-G and overall World Cup standings. Austria's Cornelia Huetter finished second, followed by her teammate Mirjam Puchner in third.
Having gone much earlier than she was used to, Macuga initially hoped to hang on to a top 15 finish to support further her mission to qualify for the World Cup Finals in Saalbach at the end of the season, where only the top 25 athletes in each discipline qualify.
Seventh makes a strong argument for Macuga, who now sits comfortably in 17th overall. If she remains high enough in the rankings by the end of the day on Sunday, she will be heading to her first World Cup finals.
On Sunday, she and her teammates will get another chance at the super-G in Kvitfjell, this time with a better plan to attack the course sections where mistakes were made. Bella Wright made a mistake in the same section of the course as Macuga but had a later bib number and couldn't quite make up the time she lost. She ended the day in 18th.
"You have to charge in this course," said Macuga. "You absolutely have to be on it and give it everything you got out there. Never let up, otherwise you'll lose your speed coming into the flats and then you're out."
The second super-G of the weekend in Kvitfjell, and the last speed race in the regular World Cup before the World Cup Finals, begins at 5:00 a.m. ET on skiandsnowboard.live.
RESULTS
Women's super-G
HOW TO WATCH
5:00 a.m. - women's super-G - LIVE on skiandsnowboard.live
STARTERS (3/3)
Lauren Macuga (2)
Bella Wright (22)
Tricia Mangan (40)
Jackie Wiles (41)
Keely Cashman (42)
