Background
Macartney grew up in the Seattle area, in Redmond, where his parents were public school teachers.
Macartney grew up in the Seattle area, in Redmond, where his parents were public school teachers.
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, eventually finishing in 29th position. He reached his first World Cup podium finish on January 29, 2006, when he placed second at the Super G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The following month 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.
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 high-speed Zielschuss section and reaching a speed of 87.7 mph (1412 km/h), 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.
Macartney"s speed at the end of the Zielschuss was the highest of the race. The next closest speed was 86.5 mph (1392 km/h) by Bode Miller, who came in tied for second. Macartney recovered from his injuries and was named to the top team ("A Team") of the United States. Ski Team for the 2008-2009 World Cup season.