Julia Mancuso

Julia Mancuso (born March 9, 1984 in Reno, Nevada), is an American alpine skier and Olympic gold medalist in the giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics. The daughter of Ciro Mancuso, she resides in Olympic Valley, California.

kiing career

Mancuso made her debut in the alpine skiing World Cup at Copper Mountain, Colorado, on November 20, 1999, at the age of only 15. She scored her first World Cup points (top-30 finish in a race) during the 2000–2001 season. While she often struggled in World Cup races over the next few seasons, she enjoyed exceptional success at the Junior World Championships, winning a record eight medals including five golds in 2002, 2003, and 2004.

Her World Cup results improved dramatically during the 2004–5 season, as she climbed to ninth place overall from 55th place in 2003–4. At the 2005 World Championships, she won bronze medals in both the super G and the giant slalom competitions. Her unexpected gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics, coming when she had never finished higher than second in a World Cup race, launched her to stardom. She won the race despite ongoing pain in her right knee, which was finally traced to hip dysplasia.cite news | last = Whiting | first = Sam | title = Julia's Gold: Neither sleet, nor snow, nor familial dysfunction will knock Julia Mancuso off form | publisher = San Francisco Chronicle | date = 2006-11-26 | url = http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/11/26/CMGVVM4C6D1.DTL&type=printable | accessdate = 2007-03-23 ] She would finish the 2005–6 World Cup season in eighth place, including podium (top three) finishes in three races, although she could sometimes barely walk by season's end.

At the start of the offseason, Mancuso endured arthroscopic surgery on her right hip to remove an inch-long bone spur on the ball of the joint. After several months off skis, she resumed training with the United States Ski Team in August, at their summer ski camp in South America. By the start of the 2006–7 World Cup season, she was almost fully recovered.

Although she started off slowly, with a number of disappointing results in the first few weeks as she worked back into race shape, the 2006–7 season would turn out to be Mancuso's breakout year on the World Cup. She won her first World Cup race on December 19, 2006, a downhill in Val-d'Isère, France, and then took second in another downhill the next day. She went on to win three more races during the season, including Super G and super combined along with another downhill. At the 2007 World Championships in Åre, Sweden, she won a silver medal in the super combined. After finishing second-first-third in consecutive races in Tarvisio, Italy, on March 2–4, 2007, she was tied for the overall World Cup lead. She eventually finished the season in third place overall, the best finish by an American woman since Tamara McKinney in 1983–84 until Lindsey Vonn won the World Cup title in 2008. She was also in second place in the discipline standings in both downhill and combined.

Lifestyle and endorsements

Her nickname among her U.S. Ski Team teammates and fans is "Super Jules". After her coach gave her a plastic tiara as a good-luck token in 2005, she wore it over her racing helmet during several slalom races. Following her Olympic gold medal, a ski run at Squaw Valley Ski Resort was renamed "Julia's Gold".

Mancuso competes using Rossignol skis and Lange boots. In December 2006, Lange announced that Mancuso would be the first-ever "Lange Girl Athlete", and be the subject of posters, images, and an "ongoing effort to showcase exceptional women ski athletes who are also attractive and inspiring." [cite web | title = Lange introduces “new” Lange Girl concept; names Mancuso first Lange Girl Athlete | url= http://www.skiracing.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4457&Itemid=2 | accessdate = 2007-03-23
cite web | title = Ski Racing Short Films BONUS: Julia Mancuso: Lange Girl | url= http://www.skiracing.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4456&Itemid=57 | accessdate = 2007-03-23 ] Mancuso also models lingerie, and she has been memorably quoted as saying, "I think underwear is my calling. You can be feminine and fast." [cite news | last = Longmore | first = Andrew | title = Schuss in boots: All eyes will be on America’s pin-up of the slopes, nicknamed Princess, as she goes for gold today in Åre, Sweden | publisher = The Sunday Times (UK) | date = 2007-02-11 | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/article1364815.ece | accessdate = 2007-03-24 ] In March 2007, she has been linked to Norwegian alpine skier Aksel Lund Svindal, the 2006–7 World Cup men's champion. [cite news | last = Vinton | first = Nathaniel | title = Mancuso Finishes Third; Climate Is Story of Season | publisher = The New York Times | date = 2007-03-19 | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/sports/othersports/19ski.htm | accessdate = 2007-03-23 ]

World Cup victories

References

: cite news | last = Jenkins | first = Chris | title = Dig these roots: Italian-American Mancuso skis like she's home at Tahoe | publisher = The San Diego Union Tribune | date = 2006-02-25 | url = http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060225/news_lz1x25roots.html | accessdate = 2007-03-24 : cite news | last = | first = | title = Mancuso has best American womens' finish in 23 years | publisher = North Lake Tahoe Bonanza | date = 2007-03-21 | url = http://www.tahoebonanza.com/article/20070321/Sports/103210002 | accessdate = 2007-03-24

External links

* [http://www.juliamancuso.net Personal website]
* [http://www.usskiteam.com/public/team.php?sN=2&pA=2&dId=2&aId=81 U.S. Ski Team bio]
* [http://www.usolympicteam.com/26_1004.htm 2006 U.S. Olympic Team bio]
*FIS|S=AL|ID=37327
* [http://www.ski-db.com/db/profiles/wmncju.asp Statistics from Ski-DB]
* [http://outside.away.com/travel_photo_gallery/outside/julia-mancuso/index.html Gallery from Outside Magazine photo shoot]
* [http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200711/julia-mancuso-1.html Interview with Julia Mancuso from the November 2007 Issue of Outside Magazine]