Lauren Macuga wins a World Cup super-G race with Lindsey Vonn 4th on stellar day for US ski team

ST. ANTON, Austria (AP) — 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.

“It was a crazy run today," Vonn said. “I’m also really proud of my teammate Lauren. It’s really nice to be part of such a fun team. It’s great to see another American on top of the podium.”

Macuga stood course-side punching the air to salute her storied teammate’s run. Vonn smiled broadly and held her arms out wide as the racecourse commentator praised her “unbelievable” run.

A half-hour earlier, Macuga had crossed the line and seeing her race-leading time put her right hand to her open mouth, waved both arms in the air and shrieked “Oh my God!”

Macuga was installed in the leader’s box, wearing a bucket hat with stars and stripes, to watch Vonn start wearing the No. 31 bib, one day after an impressive sixth-place finish in downhill. Macuga had been ninth Saturday.

Vonn had skied at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics in Macuga’s home state Utah five months before the U.S. team’s new star was even born — on the fourth of July.

Macuga is in her third full season on the World Cup tour and had six top-10 finishes before Sunday, including fourth in a downhill last month at Beaver Creek, Colorado.

“I know that I had the potential to ski on the podium,” she said. "I knew it was there, I didn’t think it would be today.”

Her sisters also are on U.S. teams: Sam Macuga is a ski jumper and Alli Macuga skis moguls on the freestyle team.

The debut World Cup win came in Lauren Macuga's 30th start while Sunday was Vonn's 396th on the circuit, a career that began in a November 2000 slalom at Park City — Macuga's home town.

The pair posed for Polaroid photos together in the finish area, where Vonn chatted with former U.S. downhill racer Travis Ganong and Italian star Sofia Goggia, who for the second straight day skied out when set to post the fastest time.

Vonn's performance Sunday was further away from the winning time than Saturday in her first downhill for six years, won by Brignone, yet was perhaps more impressive.

On Sunday, Vonn was genuinely fast through an unfamiliar gate-setting and in much poorer visibility on a cloudy day than the sun-splashed downhill raced on a course that is well-known and where she had won in 2007.

“It was really bumpy, the light was really flat when I went,” said Vonn, who returned from a six-year retirement and is now skiing with a titanium knee. “I think it was a really good step forwards. (Saturday) gave me a lot of confidence.”

The shocking star of Saturday, Swiss prospect Malorie Blanc who was runner-up on her World Cup downhill debut, confirmed that form in super-G with a ninth-place finish.

It is proving to be a rich and intriguing season in the women's World Cup that now moves on to its signature venue — scenic Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Italian Dolomites that will host women's races at the 2026 Olympics.

Three generations of women's speed racers, from 21-year-old Blanc to 40-year-old Vonn, and first-time winner Macuga, are challenging established stars like 2018 Olympic downhill champion Goggia, Gut-Behrami and Brignone, who now leads the overall World Cup standings. A downhill is scheduled Saturday and a super-G on Sunday.

"I hope I can put everything together there," said Vonn, who got 12 of her 82 career World Cup wins at Cortina.

From left, second placed Austria's Stephanie Venier, the winner United States' Lauren Macuga and third placed Italy's Federica Brignone celebrate after an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G race, in St. Anton, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

From left, the winner United States' Lauren Macuga and fourth placed Lindsey Von after completing an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G race, in St. Anton, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

From left, second placed Austria's Stephanie Venier, the winner United States' Lauren Macuga and fourth placed Lindsey Von pose after completing an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G race, in St. Anton, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Italy's Sofia Goggia reacts after going out in an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G race, in St. Anton, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Switzerland's Lara Gut Behrami speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G race, in St. Anton, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Italy's Federica Brignone speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G race, in St. Anton, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Austria's Stephanie Venier reacts after completing an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G race, in St. Anton, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Lauren Macuga reacts after completing an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G race, in St. Anton, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States Lindsey Vonn reacts after completing an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G race, in St. Anton, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States Lindsey Vonn speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G race, in St. Anton, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States Lindsey Vonn reacts after completing an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G race, in St. Anton, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Lauren Macuga speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G race, in St. Anton, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Lauren Macuga reacts after completing an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G race, in St. Anton, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)