USST's Mancuso golden in combined at World Juniors; Austrian wins slalom

USST’s Mancuso golden in combined at World Juniors; Austrian wins slalom{mosimage}Julia Mancuso finished sixth in slalom Sunday and clinched the combined gold medal at the World Junior Championships, while first-run leader Lindsey Kildow missed a second-run gate and hiked to finish her run.

Kildow was 32nd, but it kept her in fourth place in combined, and protected the U.S. Ski Team’s lead in the Marc Hodler Trophy for team supremacy.

Austrian Kathrin Zettel, 17, won the slalom and earned the combined silver medal, keeping her teammates close to the U.S. in the team calculation. The combined at World Juniors includes slalom, GS and downhill results.

Nika Fleiss of Croatia, 19, was the runner-up in the slalom, 0.09 behind Zettel’s total of 1:40.73, with Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic, also 19, in third (1:40.82).

Also for the U.S., Kaylin Richardson finished 11th, and Stacey Cook wound up 50th. Caitlin Ciccone and Resi Stiegler were DNF’s in the second run.

It’s Mancuso’s American-record eighth World Juniors medal, one behind Germany’s Maria Riesch, who won the downhill and giant slalom but fell Sunday in the first run of slalom.

“Julia’s gold medal was great, no question” said Walt Evans, U.S. competition director and team leader for the championships, “but Lindsey saved the day for the Hodler Trophy. She hiked that gate and that was pretty selfless because by finishing, she was fourth in combined and that saved the team trophy, which is a great tribute to the way all these kids skied.”

The U.S. had 93 points, based on top-10 finishes, while Austria had 90 with Sweden in third place (55) with Canada fourth (49).