Worlds: An in with Jim Tracy

Jim Tracy has his hands full. The U.S. women’s alpine head coach is responsible for turning the fastest women in America into the fastest in the world. So far the 2009 Alpine World Ski Championships have see Tracy’s athletes come up with a broad spectrum of dramatic results. Lindsey Vonn has been in autopilot, winning both the super G and downhill. Julia Mancuso is in the middle of a disappointing season and in need of what her manager calls a “reboot” after pulling out of the downhill mid-way through the course. Stacey Cook turned her own disappointing season around in the downhill with a heroic ninth-place finish. Ski Racing caught up with Tracy in Val d’Isere to find out what it’s like to be the coach of such a mixed bag.Jim Tracy has his hands full. The U.S. women’s alpine head coach is responsible for turning the fastest women in America into the fastest in the world. So far the 2009 Alpine World Ski Championships have see Tracy’s athletes come up with a broad spectrum of dramatic results. Lindsey Vonn has been in autopilot, winning both the super G and downhill. Julia Mancuso is in the middle of a disappointing season and in need of what her manager calls a “reboot” after pulling out of the downhill mid-way through the course. Stacey Cook turned her own disappointing season around in the downhill with a heroic ninth-place finish. Ski Racing caught up with Tracy in Val d’Isere to find out what it’s like to be the coach of such a mixed bag.
 

How did it feel to be a part of Lindsey’s second World Championship victory?

It was definitely worth the wait, that’s for sure. I said that the one that had the best mental approach to the whole thing and the most patience would probably be the one who would win. She certainly proved that. She has a lot of confidence. She was disappointed in the combined but she knew she was skiing well in the speed events. In some ways for all of us the downhill was the premier event … she really wanted to take that one.
 
 
We’ve heard some complaints about both the men’s and women’s downhill courses. How did you and Lindsey feel about it?

It was just a different downhill. It wasn’t that it was bad, it was just different and basically we all got to work and tried to find the things that were going to work for that kind of a course. We just had to piece each part of it together and try to execute each part of it.
 

How does it feel to coach what is turning out to be the best American woman ski racer ever?

It’s pretty fun. I’ve been fortunate over the years to be involved with a lot of great
athletes with the team, and this definitely ranks up high with all of them for sure.
 

Does the fact that Lindsey is reaching such lofty records add pressure to her performance?

We’re certainly going to try to not let it be that way. There’s still plenty of work to do, a lot of racing left for this season and then going into next year. Hopefully the super performances that she has had this year will just add to her confidence for next year, that’s an important thing.
 

What makes Lindsey so good?

Her desire. It’s her desire to excel. She wants to win and she does everything it takes to win.
 

What does a top-10 finish mean for Stacey Cook?

For Stacey this was huge. She’s been struggling this year a little bit and we’ve been trying to encourage her and just keep her fighting. She had some good sections a few days ago and she was able to improve each day a little bit and she skied great. I’m hoping this is kind of a good kick-start for the end of the season because that will put her in a good place for next year.  When I told her that she was going to come, I said this is a gift, now let’s do something with it, and she did.
 

What does Julia Mancuso need to do to find a podium here?

She just has to feel a little bit more confident. Giant slalom is basically her one event right now where she can ski well. Hopefully, with a few days of training  going into the race she’ll be a little bit more confident and she might be able to surprise some people. But if not, that’s the way it goes this year, and we’re just going to do everything we can to help her out and get her ready for next year. She’ll be back on the podium, there’s no doubt about it.
 
 
How challenging is it to balance managing a team of girls when one of them is such a stand-out superstar?

We’re all part of the same team. Obviously we need to do what we need to do to help Lindsey out, but the others can only benefit from her success, so it’s actually quite easy. She’s an unbelievable teammate … one of the best ever.