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Julia Mancuso

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Julia Mancuso
Personal information
OccupationAlpine skier
Height5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Sport
CountryUnited States
Skiing career
DisciplinesDownhill, Super-G, Giant slalom, Slalom, Combined
World Cup debutNovember 20, 1999
Websitewww.juliamancuso.com
Olympics
Teams3
Medals3 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams3
Medals3 (0 gold)
World Cup
Seasons10
Wins4
Podiums19
Overall titles0
Discipline titles0

Julia Mancuso (born March 9, 1984 in Reno, Nevada) is an alpine ski racer with the U.S. Ski Team. She was the gold medalist in the giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics and the silver medalist in both downhill and combined at the 2010 Winter Olympics. She has also won three medals (a silver and two bronzes) at the World Ski Championships, although she has only won four races in regular World Cup competition. She has won more Olympic medals than any female American Alpine skier.

Personal life

Julia grew up in Lake Tahoe as the middle of three sisters, between older sister April and younger sister Sara. Her father, Ciro Mancuso, was convicted of running a $140-million marijuana smuggling operation in 1990. Julia's parents divorced in 1992, and her mother said that Julia "took everything out on the slopes."

She attended The Winter Sports School in Park City, graduating in 2000. She resides in Olympic Valley, California.

Skiing career

Julia Mancuso
Medal record
Women’s alpine skiing
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2006 Turin Giant slalom
Silver medal – second place 2010 Vancouver Downhill
Silver medal – second place 2010 Vancouver Combined
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2007 Åre Super combined
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Bormio Super-G
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Bormio Giant slalom

Mancuso made her World Cup debut at Copper Mountain, Colorado, on November 20, 1999, at the age of 15. She scored her first World Cup points (top-30 finish in a race) during the 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 2005 season, as she climbed to ninth place overall from 55th place in 2004. 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 Turin 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.[1] She would finish the 2006 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 off-season, Mancuso endured arthroscopic surgery on her right hip to remove an inch-long bone spur on the ball of the joint.[1] After several months off skis, she resumed training with the U.S. team in August, at their summer ski camp in South America. By the start of the 2007 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 2007 season would turn out to be Mancuso's breakout year on the World Cup circuit. 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; a Super G, a super combined, and another downhill. At the 2007 World Championships in Åre, Sweden, she won a silver medal in the super combined. After finishing on the podium in three consecutive races (2nd, 1st, 3rd) 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 1984, 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.

However, she had not won another World Cup race since the 2007 season and had not even achieved a top-three finish in World Cup events in two years due to back problems, so her silver medal in the women's downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics was another surprise.[2] The very next day, she won another silver in the Women's Super Combined, an event that incorporates both a downhill and a slalom run.[3]

Lifestyle and endorsements

Mancuso's nickname among her U.S. Ski Team teammates and fans is "Super Jules". Following her Olympic gold medal in 2006, a ski run at Squaw Valley Ski Resort was renamed "Julia's Gold".

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. She wore her tiara following her Silver Medal run in the Women's Downhill and again at the medal ceremony at the 2010 Winter Olympics. In 2010, Mancuso launched her own lingerie line named Kiss My Tiara.[4] Mancuso also models lingerie and has been memorably quoted as saying, "I think underwear is my calling. You can be feminine and fast." [5]

Mancuso competes using Rossignol skis, Lange boots and POC helmets and armor. 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."[6]

In March 2007, she was linked to Norwegian alpine skier Aksel Lund Svindal, the 2006–7 World Cup men's champion.[7]

During the 2010 Winter Olympics, VISA featured Mancuso in an animated story describing how as a child she had drawn a picture of herself as a gold medalist, and closing with a photograph of her after winning the gold medal in 2006.[8]

World Cup victories

Date Location Discipline
December 19, 2006 France Val-d'Isère Downhill
January 14, 2007 Austria Altenmarkt Super-Combined
January 19, 2007 Italy Cortina Super-G
March 3, 2007 Italy Tarvisio Downhill

References

  1. ^ a b Whiting, Sam (2006-11-26). "Julia's Gold: Neither sleet, nor snow, nor familial dysfunction will knock Julia Mancuso off form". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  2. ^ Dampf, Andrew (2010-02-17). "Vonn captures gold; Mancuso silver". Associated Press.
  3. ^ SI.com (2010-02-18). "Vonn falls in super-combined, fails to place; Mancuso grabs silver". CNN. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
  4. ^ "Racy! Olympic skier launches lingerie line". New York: Associated Press. 2010-02-11. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  5. ^ Longmore, Andrew (2007-02-11). "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". London: The Sunday Times (UK). Retrieved 2007-03-24.
  6. ^ "Lange introduces "new" Lange Girl concept; names Mancuso first Lange Girl Athlete". Retrieved 2007-03-23.
    "Ski Racing Short Films BONUS: Julia Mancuso: Lange Girl". Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  7. ^ Vinton, Nathaniel (2007-03-19). "Mancuso Finishes Third; Climate Is Story of Season". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  8. ^ "Visa Go World Julia Mancuso". The Inspiration Room. 2010-02-13. Retrieved 2010-02-17.

Jenkins, Chris (2006-02-25). "Dig these roots: Italian-American Mancuso skis like she's home at Tahoe". The San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
"Mancuso has best American womens' finish in 23 years". North Lake Tahoe Bonanza. 2007-03-21. Retrieved 2007-03-24.


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