ST. ANTON, Austria — Breakout star Lauren Macuga and comeback queen Lindsey Vonn made it a classic Sunday for the United States ski team.
Macuga's first World Cup race win — in a super-G where the 40-year-old Vonn impressed again in fourth — was no surprise to ski watchers who saw the 22-year-old American's fast-improving results.
Maybe now sponsors will catch up with a racer from what shapes to soon be the first family of the extended U.S. sk team.
Macuga raced with speed and style Sunday wearing a helmet that has a question mark on the front where a sponsor's brand could be.
The American was almost flawless on a course that caught out veterans like Federica Brignone and Lara Gut-Behrami, who made errors and knew crossing the finish line their times would not hold up.
Macuga won by 0.68 seconds — a huge winning margin in super-G — ahead of Stephanie Venier of Austria, with Brignone 0.92 back in third. Olympic champion Gut-Behrami was 1.26 back in fifth.
''I can't believe it, it's so exciting," Macuga said. ''I don't even think the nerves have settled in. I'm just waiting for it to hit me.''
Vonn, in the third race of her surprise comeback season, trailed Macuga by 1.24 yet no one was faster down the steep middle section of the course.