USST's Julia Mancuso third in World Junior Championship super G

USST’s Julia Mancuso third in World Junior Championship super G{mosimage}Julia Mancuso of the United States finished third in the world junior championships super G. Mancuso was just 0.01 seconds behind the two racers who tied for the gold, Nadia Fanchini of Italy and Andrea Fischbacher of Austria.

Mancuso now has seven World Junior Championship medals, just one short of the record. She has raced in the annual event five times (in Canada, Switzerland, Italy, France, and now, Slovenia).

“You come in all excited when you’re younger and you want to beat up on everyone,” says Mancuso, a laid-back Californian. “The more you go through it, it’s hard to get up the extra edge, and that’s where I lost that hundredth today.”

Lindsey Kildow of Vail, Colorado, finished fourth, just 0.04 seconds behind Mancuso. Kildow was second in the downhill two days earlier.

Kaylin Richardson, a Minnesotan with little experience in speed events, finished eighth. “This is it,” she said, asked what her best-ever speed event result was. “I crossed the line and I thought maybe I’d finished in the top 20, and then I heard the Americans cheering and I thought maybe I finished in the top fifteen.”

Richardson’s eighth-place finish, however, won’t count as points toward the U.S. Ski Team’s goal of winning the Marc Hodler Cup — the award for best cumulative team effort. That’s because only the two best of any nation’s top ten finishers are counted for the final tally (Mancuso won eight points and Kildow seven).

Women’s Super G

World Junior Championships

Maribor, Slovenia

February 12, 2004

1= Nadia Fanchini (ITA)

1= Andrea Fischbacher (AUT)

3) Julia Mancuso (USA)

Also:

4) Lindsey Kildow (USA)

8) Kaylin Richardson (USA)

13) Resi Stiegler (USA)

24) Stacey Cook (USA)

35) Caitlin Ciccone (USA)

Men struggle to score, but their coach is optimistic about technical events

The American men’s team failed to score points in the super G, with the top finish coming from Jeffrey Harrison, in 12th.

“I would say that it was a solid performance for the guys, given the hill,” said the U.S. Ski Team’s head development coach for men, Adam Chadbourne. “We haven’t done well on flat hills all year. But Andrew [Weibrecht] had a hell of a race to come in from to 14th from 58th. His results don’t really show it because he had an injury early in the season. He’s really dedicated to being a great ski racer. In training he’s been fast for months now.”

Chadbourne said that the team had missed two of it’s best speed skiers, TJ Lanning and Nick Baker, who are both out with injuries. “We’re definitely feeling a void there,” said Chadbourne. “Those guys would have done well on this course.”

The day belonged to the Canadians, who finished second, third and fourth behind the race winner, Hans Olsson of Sweden.

Each member of the Canadian trio — Manuel Osbourne-Paradis, Francois Bourque and Brad Spence — was born in 1984, so they are each in the last year of junior eligibility.

“All season long it’s been a flip-flop for who was going to be the best guy today from our group,” said the Canadian team’s development coach, Glenn Thomsen. “We were the fastest speed team, but then we fell off. Right now, if you put it together, we’d be number one on the speed side. Francois and Manny are going to do all four events. We’re definitely thinking about the combined.”

Bourque has spent the season racing NorAms and World Cups, mostly on the speed side. “Today there was one turn where there was a lot of snow on the track,” said Bourque, who was disappointed with third because he won the super G at the event last year. “If you were not on the pin there you slowed down quite a bit. I made a mistake there.”

Men’s Super G

World Junior Championships

Maribor, Slovenia

February 12, 2004

1) Hans Olsson, SWE

2) Manuel Osbourne-Paradis (CAN)

3) Francis Bourque (CAN)

Also:

12) Jefferey Harrison (USA)

14) Andrew Weibrecht (USA)

23) Evan Weiss (USA)

26) Ted Ligety (USA)

37) Eric Mann (USA)

57) Christopher Beckman (USA)