Ljutic, Colturi and Macuga headline a new generation of skiers

Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic

Zrinka Ljutic has won three of the past four World Cup slaloms and turned 21 just last month.

Lara Colturi is only 18 and has been on the podium twice this season. American talent Lauren Macuga, 22, upstaged Lindsey Vonn when she won a super-G in January.

Malorie Blanc, a 21-year-old Swiss racer, came out of nowhere to finish second in her first World Cup downhill. Camille Rast, 25, won two slaloms and sits third in the overall standings. And Alice Robinson of New Zealand, 23, won a giant slalom for her first victory in nearly four years.

With Mikaela Shiffrin injured for much of the last two seasons and Petra Vlhova still out, too, because of crashes, a bunch of other athletes have made breakthroughs on the women’s circuit recently.

And they’re all eager to back up their performances at the world championships starting this week.

“It speaks to the investment and development systems in the countries where those athletes are coming from, but it also speaks to the natural cycles of ski racing,” said U.S. head coach Paul Kristofic.

“Mikaela and Petra for sure are dominant athletes. So from a podium perspective, it opens the door a little bit more for some young racers.”

When Ljutic claimed her maiden victory in a slalom in Semmering last month, she became the first Croatian woman to win a race since Janica Kostelic triumphed in 2006.

Ljutic went on to win two more slaloms in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, and Courchevel, France; having earned her first podium this season with a second-place result in the giant slalom in Killington, Vermont, when Shiffrin crashed and suffered a deep puncture wound to her side.

Born and raised in Italy, Colturi made a nationality switch and decided to represent Albania so she could continue to be coached by her parents and decide on her own which races to enter.

Daniela Ceccarelli, Colturi’s mother, won gold in super-G at the 2002 Olympics and now coaches her daughter. Colturi’s father is a ski coach.

While warming up for the last worlds in France two years ago, Colturi tore the ACL in her right knee and never got to race.

But she came back strong and qualified for last season’s finals in Saalbach in both slalom and giant slalom and has had two second-place finishes this season: in a slalom in Gurgl, Austria, in November; and in a giant slalom in Kranjska Gora in January.

Rast has also been on the podium in giant slalom this season.

Macuga is one of three sisters on the U.S. Ski Team. She’s a downhill skier, Alli is a moguls standout, and Sam is a ski jumper.

When Macuga claimed her first World Cup victory in St. Anton last month, Vonn finished fourth for her best result since coming out retirement.

Macuga has also impressed in downhill, finishing fourth on home snow in Beaver Creek, Colorado, in December. ANDREW DAMPF, SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, MDT/AP