Are: Worn-out Mancuso headed home

ARE, Sweden — Julia Mancuso’s World Championships are over. She’s headed back to the States for some much-needed rest and relaxation before resuming her quest for World Cup discipline titles and the overall crystal globe. 

ARE, Sweden — Julia Mancuso’s World Championships are over. She’s headed back to the States for some much-needed rest and relaxation before resuming her quest for World Cup discipline titles and the overall crystal globe.  
    Mancuso closed the event with a disappointing fifth-place finish in the GS under the lights in Are on Tuesday night. Leading after the first run and in position for the fifth World Championships or Olympic medal of her young career, Mancuso was tripped up by a tighter course set, a few ruts in the track and changing snow conditions.
    “I was surprised how fast my first run was so I was feeling confident going into the second run, but the set was a bit tighter and everything was a bit more demanding and I wasn’t quite ready for that,” Mancuso said.
    Running 30th in the second run, Mancuso said the course held up but the track was definitely rougher than in the opener, where she was the third racer on-course. Mancuso said she went back to the team hotel and ate dinner between runs as the second run didn’t begin until 8 p.m. local time. Despite the late finish and 79-racer field, Mancuso said she enjoyed skiing under the lights.
    “It’s fun. The conditions are pretty good, it was pretty fun,” she said.
    Mancuso won’t ski in the slalom or team event later this week in Are, preferring instead to rest up for the World Cup stretch run. Mancuso is third in the overall standings, second in downhill, and fourth in both the super G and GS standings. She added that the grind and length of the World Championships format took its toll.
    “I need a break for the rest of the season,” she said. “This was a really tough couple of weeks for me, just so many events. It’s almost easier when you bang them out race after race, four in a row [like on the World Cup]. Just having the days off in between and training [at worlds], it was too much for my body.”
    Women's slalom/GS head coach Chris Knight was at a loss for words in describing the second-run letdown. "I'm not sure what to say," he said. "I think maybe they were trying too hard on that second run. That second course was a tighter course and there was more moving across the fall line, which was difficult but not a problem if you were ready. Look at what Hosp and Kirchgasser did with it."
    He said Mancuso's fatigue wasn't a real surprise. "She's only had one day off since we got here and she's been on the go all the time. She needs some time off, needs a break."
    Ludlow was 24th on the first run "and I tried to have the fastest second run. That's what I had to do. … I was hoping for a top 10, or to be top in the top six," Ludlow said.
    The next women's race will be the final individual event, the slalom Friday — again, at night — with the coed team event Sunday.
    Mancuso leaves Are with a silver medal in the super combined and a 10th-place showing in the downhill in addition to the fifth in GS.
    “It was good. I had fun,” Mancuso said.