Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Mancuso just misses podium in Semmering GS

World Cup resumes in Austria


Photo by Getty Images/AFP Joe Klamar. Julia Mancuso speeds to fifth place in Tuesday’s World Cup giant slalom at Semmering, Austria.

Three-time Olympic medalist Julia Mancuso, 26, of Squaw Valley, Ca. nearly returned to the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom podium Tuesday at Semmering, Austria.

Mancuso skied an incredibly clean second run to finish fifth. Lindsey Vonn, 26, of Vail, Colo. and Sarah Schleper, 31, of Vail continued the strong day for Americans in seventh and 15th respectively.

Tessa Worley of France matched American gate ace Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) on the women's side winning her third consecutive GS this season with a wire-to-wire victory.

Germany went 2-3 with Maria Riesch regaining the overall lead from Vonn with second place Tuesday, while reigning World Cup GS champion Katrhin Hoezl was third.

Riesch (658 points) has been incredibly consistent in all disciplines. She is second in downhill with 207 points, second in super giant slalom with 80, fourth in slalom 160, fifth in giant slalom 166 and fifth in combined with 45. Vonn (617 points) is now 41 points behind.

Mancuso stands in sixth place with 339 points overall.

"I've been skiing so good in training, so it's nice to put a run together," said Mancuso, who was just .39 off the podium.

"She knows she's fast again in GS and she just needs to now make two runs in a row without mistakes," said Head Coach Alex Hoedlmoser on Mancuso. "The speed is definitely there."

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Mancuso, the 2006 Olympic GS champion, produced the second fastest second run to leap from the 18th position to fifth for her best GS finish since Dec. 2007.

Dspite letting the overall lead slip to Riesch, the race continued Vonn's resurgence in giant slalom as she matched her finish from St. Moritz two weeks ago to post her third GS point scoring race this season.

At just over an hour drive from metro Vienna, the biennial World Cup stop in Semmering is one of the highest attended women's races of the season. Thousands packed the stands and lined the fences Tuesday, but thousands more are expected for Wednesday's night slalom.

"There were already tons of people out today and tomorrow's going to be crazy," said Mancuso. "We're so close to Vienna and they really love ski racing around here. it's going to be a lot of fun."

After today's night slalom, the women adjourn for the New Year until speed races at Zauchensee, Austria Jan. 8-9. The World Cup men have their annual pre-New Year's downhill at Bormio, Italy today.




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