Scott Macartney

Scott Macartney (born January 19, 1978) is a retired American World Cup alpine ski racer. He concentrated in the speed events of downhill and super-G.

Biography
Born in Seattle, Washington, Macartney was raised in suburban Redmond, where his parents were public school teachers. He skied at the Crystal Mountain ski area, located 75 mi southeast of Seattle, where his parents were members of the volunteer ski patrol on weekends. Macartney did not attend a ski academy, but graduated from Redmond High School in 1996 while working his way up through regional teams in the Northwest with limited funding. He attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics.

Macartney competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and was the first racer on the course in the downhill event at Snowbasin, and finished 29th. He attained his first World Cup podium on January 29, 2006, when he placed second at the Super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

A few weeks later, he competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, where he finished 16th in the men's combined, 15th in the downhill and 7th in the super-G at Sestriere.

Injury at Kitzbühel
On his 30th birthday in 2008, Macartney competed in the Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbühel, Austria. The second racer on the course, he had an excellent run going until he suffered a spectacular fall just five seconds from the finish line. After descending the steep Zielschuss section and reaching a speed of 87.75 mph, Macartney was challenging for a top ten finish. At the final jump (Zielsprung), he was twisted left while airborne, could not recover, and crashed whilst finishing the race. He was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Innsbruck, said to have suffered bruising to the brain, and was put into an induced coma. He regained consciousness the next day. As Macartney did not miss a gate, he finished the race in 33rd place with a time of 1:55.91, 3.16 seconds behind the winner, Didier Cuche. Macartney's speed at the end of the Zielschuss was the highest of the race; the next closest speed was 86.5 mph by Bode Miller, who tied for second.

Macartney recovered from his injuries and was named to the top team ("A Team") of the U.S. Ski Team for the 2008-09 World Cup season.

Top Ten finishes

 * 2 podiums – (1 DH, 1 SG)