McCoy was born the daughter of hydrographer Dave McCoy and his wife Roma. During his research, her father discovered that Mammoth Mountain , located in central California, had more snow than any other mountain in the region. In 1953 he leased the area for the next 99 years for one US dollar a year and founded the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area there . This became his daughter's training ground and she developed into one of the top runners in her country.
In the mid-1960s, she was accepted into the national ski team as the youngest female athlete in the history of US skiing. With her slalom victory in Heavenly Valley on April 3, 1966, with Marielle Goitschel only finishing second, she qualified for the 1966 Alpine World Ski Championships in Portillo , where she was the youngest participant at the age of 16 and with third place in slalom the only medal for the USA won in these championships. She was unable to take part in the giant slalom on August 11 because of a sprained ankle.
From the 1966/67 season, she established herself in the newly created World Cup , especially in slalom, among the world's best and was well on the way to qualifying for the 1968 Winter Olympics. Shortly before the start of the games, however, she was replaced by the team management. This disappointment marked the end of her successful career. She retired from active sports and married the actor and stuntman Stan Barrett . She raised three children with him. After 19 years of marriage, in which she claims to have been abused by her husband, she divorced, returned to Mammouth Mountain and successfully took over the management of her parents' ski resort.
United States
