Meet the Macuga sisters, who grew to become Olympic-class athletes by chance

“I would absolutely lose it if any of them was doing moguls,” Alli stated. “I don’t think I could handle that. I would get so pissed if they were beating me.”

During the household’s dinner final July, Dan turned and grinned mischievously.

“Watch this,” he stated quietly, earlier than addressing the desk. “So, whose sport is the hardest?”

The siblings argued for the following minute. It would have been all proper, her father later commented, if among the siblings’ disciplines had overlapped.

“That would be a nightmare,” Lauren stated. “It would be World War Macuga in this household.”

Not being pushed to cluster into one sport has lowered competitors among the many siblings and allowed the Macugas to freely chat with each other about their anxieties, stresses and successes with out worrying it might price them a spot on a podium. Within elite sports activities, not each athlete has such an outlet. The Macugas consider their sturdy bonds are a bonus.

The encouragement could be very important.

When Lauren received her first race within the prestigious Alpine World Cup in Austria in early 2025, she referred to as Sam, who was in Norway, and informed her she was flustered by the surprising win and the eye that got here with it. They talked it by, in a uniquely Macuga approach. The siblings admit they don’t know the nuances of each other’s disciplines, however they’ll relate to the stress of navigating life as an expert athlete.

“I haven’t skied in the World Cup or done dual moguls,” Sam stated. “But if you want to talk about being on the circuit, or having to travel so much, or dealing with the ski team, like, yeah, I got you.”

Others took discover after Lauren’s victory. Lindsey Vonn, the gold medal-winning U.S. skier, has stated that “women like Lauren have so much potential and so much talent and work ethic.” Yet when Lauren tore a knee ligament in a fall throughout a November coaching run, it ended her Olympic ambitions in a yr when successful a medal might need led to mainstream recognition.

“RIP acl,” she wrote on Instagram. Photos she posted later confirmed her carrying her trademark bucket hat in a hospital mattress, post-surgery.