The countdown to Milano-Cortina is nearing its final stretch, and Team USA has been gearing up with its strongest names in command. Mikaela Shiffrin, Chloe Kim, Alex Hall, and many more lead a stacked roster ready to attack the European snowfields. Yet, just as preparations intensified, the team was struck by a setback.

A 23-year-old skier, considered essential to the U.S. medal push, has gone down with an injury at a critical point in the build-up.

The rising U.S women’s skiing sensation, Lauren Macuga, will now miss the rest of her season, which also includes the Olympics, after she fell and tore her ACL in her right knee during a training session on Friday morning. Macuga was set to compete in the giant slalom at Copper Mountain, Colorado, on Saturday. However, tragedy struck just hours before she could take the start.

“It’s me, I’m what’s broken 😞 RIP acl, see you all next year 🫡” Macuga captioned her Instagram post showing how she injured herself.

With that injury, the Park City, Utah native’s hopes of contending for the Copper Mountain World Cup have officially ended. It was a rare opening for her, one of the few chances U.S. skiers get to compete on home snow. Sharing her concern, teammate Keely Cashman said the setback was deeply unfortunate.

“We’re obviously very sad.This sport is incredibly brutal and there’s a lot of girls that gotten hurt early on, and it’s a terrible thing. That being said, Lauren is the most positive person I’ve ever met in my entire life. She’s already cracking jokes. She’s also, I would say, one of the hardest-working people I know. So I have no doubt that she’ll be back.”

Mikaela Shiffrin also agreed with Cashman’s assessment of the young star. While speaking to the media, she explained that the setback was difficult to process, but her teammate will be back stronger than expected.

“She’s such a hard worker, and she’s so positive, and she has such a great instinct for just how to keep pushing forward. Everybody navigates injuries very individually. So mostly it’s just to say we support you through it all and everything you’ve been doing is right. You’ve been doing it all right. So just be patient with yourself and keep going.”

Shiffrin herself has endured some brutal falls in her career, including the heavy crash in Killington, Vermont, that once made her consider stepping away from the sport. Yet she rebounded in signature fashion, winning back-to-back World Cups this year and entering the Winter Olympics on a two-race winning streak. Well, as the skiing sensation now leaves her season blank, let’s have a look at her career highlights.

Lauren Macuga had already achieved big ahead of the Winter Olympics

Despite being just 23, Lauren Macuga has quickly become one of the top skiers from the USA. AT the World Junior Championships back in 2022, the skiing sensation clinched the bronze medal, and just months later, she scored her first World Cup points in 2022–23.

A year later, she delivered a breakout season in 2023-24 with multiple top-10 Super-G finishes and a spot in the World Cup Finals. In 2025, she took an even bigger step, winning her first World Cup race in the St. Anton Super-G.

“That moment I was like, `Oh my gosh, I did that.’ It’s this one step in this immense dream and I just achieved that. And then it’s amazing now to be like, no, that wasn’t the step. I want to achieve so much more. There’s so many branches to this dream and it just keeps growing as I keep going along, and it just motivates me more,” said the skier after winning the St. Anton Super-G.

She also claimed a runner-up finish in the downhill at Kvitfjell, Norway. Last season, she emerged as the top American performer in both speed disciplines, ranking fourth in downhill and sixth in super-G, while finishing 17th overall in the World Cup standings.

Known within the team for her upbeat personality, she’s often spotted in her trademark bucket hats and American flag shirts after races. With her injuries now in play, the hope is that she recovers quickly and returns to the slopes sooner than expected.