Mancuso 3rd in Overall, Best Since '84

March 18, 2007
LENZERHEIDE, SWITZERLAND – (USST News Bureau Release) – Austrian Nicole Hosp won her second World Cup race in 24 hours Sunday, capturing the last giant slalom to clinch her first World Cup overall title while Olympic GS champion Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) 11th, finishing third in the overall for the best U.S. women’s result since 1984.

WCSN.com will broadcast same-day video streaming from World Cup Finals at 2 and 6 p.m. ET. Video streaming of the men’s final slalom will be at noon and 4 p.m. ET.

Hosp, who already had clinched the World Cup GS crown, had a two-run time of 2:11.98 in the 50-degree sunshine to hold off teammate Marlies Schild’s bid for the overall. Schild, who held the points lead until foundering Saturday in GS as Hosp won to take the lead, finished in a tie for sixth Sunday.

Mancuso wanted to win final run
Hosp took the overall title with 1,572 points to 1,482 for Schild; Mancuso was third with 1,356. It was the top U.S. women’s performance since Tamara McKinney – the 1983 overall title-holder – was third overall in ’84, the year Mancuso was born.

“I was just a little haggard,” Mancuso said. “I had one mistake on the first run and another on the second run – I’m not sure where…but I just didn’t have the power today. I really wanted to win the second run but I just couldn’t do it.”

Women’s tech Head Coach Chris Knight said, “That first-run mistake cost her a lot of time, but otherwise she had some really good skiing. Jules is really tired and when you’re that tired, the first thing you lose is your balance…and her balance isn’t as solid as it has been, which costs her time.

Coach: across-the-board improvement
“Still, this was the first time this season she was out of the top 10 (except for one race where she hiked gates when she skied off-course) and she improved from ninth to fourth in GS standings, and she improved in all disciplines, which is pretty exciting. She needed that hip surgery last spring, she lost the first month of the season while she was getting into shape…and then she took off,” Knight said. “Really, it’s been an outstanding year for her.”

Mancuso will head to Alaska for the Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships, which begin March 27 at Alyeska Resort. When the 2004 U.S. championships were held at Akyeska, Mancuso won five medals – gold in combined and silver in slalom, GS, super G and downhill.

Austria won the Nations Cup title again with the U.S. Ski Team second in the women’s points, third overall behind Austria and Switzerland.

For complete results: http://fanmail.ussa.org/ct/ct.php?t=1885666&c=961037290&m=m&type=1&h=0F36141568AA21ECAE9ED949890F3E1B.