PARK CITY, Utah — Professional skiers from all over the world are inspiring young female athletes here in Utah on National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
It's also just one day until the Freestyle International Ski World Cup, happening at Deer Valley.
Growing up in Utah and competing since she was seven years old, Alli Macuga had her first two World Cup podiums last year. However, she says there’s nothing quite like competing on home turf.
“We talk about this event all year long, like even when it's the summer we're like, ‘Oh my god, Deer Valley,’ because it's home crowd,” Macuga said. “I have so many people out here that support me. Like, the crowd's insane and just under the lights, like every single year [I] just look forward to it so much.”
The U.S. Free Ski Team mogul skier wants young girls to see that the women are just as competitive and capable as the men.
“The women's jump and speed packages, like in our competition runs, are catching up to the guys,” said Macuga. “We're right there with the guys, which is so insane to see how it's progressed over the years, because it used to feel like there's such a big gap, and like the tricks and how fast the women were skiing, but now it's so impressive that some of the women here could easily compete with the men and do really good too.”
On Wednesday, young female athletes, like Samantha Mazanec, got the chance to meet some of their idols.
“It feels good to see them push the boundaries because it's making room for more young women like me to set harder tricks and just push it harder and farther,” she said.
Seeing how strong these women are motivates the Wasatch Freestyle skier.
“It kind of feels like I'm meditating,” Mazanec said. “It feels really calm for me, and it just feels like a lot of fun too, and it feels like I can do whatever I want to do.”
The World Cup practices and competitions at Deer Valley are free to watch and open to the public. You can find the full schedule of events here. It will run from Thursday through Saturday.
