Val d'Isere: Mancuso snags first win, Kildow 3rd

Julia Mancuso won her first career World Cup race Tuesday as American skiers took two of the top three places in a women's downhill.
    Mancuso, the Olympic giant slalom champion, completed the 2.5-kilometer (1.55-mile) course in 1 minute, 38.93 seconds. Renate Goetschl of Austria was second, 0.43 seconds behind. Lindsey Kildow, winner in Val d'Isere last year, was third in 1:39.47.
    ''To win my first World Cup race feels good, but I always knew it was there,'' Mancuso said. ''It was just the case of being able to execute. That was a pretty solid run I'd say. My skis were working for me.''
    Just three days ago, Mancuso's former boyfriend, American Steven Nyman, won his first career race, claiming a downhill at Val Gardena, Italy.
    "I want to thank Steve because he inspired me to this victory," Mancuso said.
    Mancuso, who won the GS gold medal at the Torino Games in February, placed 10th and 39th in downhill races at Lake Louise earlier this month.

VAL D'ISERE, France — Julia Mancuso won her first career World Cup race Tuesday as American skiers took two of the top three places in a women's downhill.
    Mancuso, the Olympic giant slalom champion, completed the 2.5-kilometer (1.55-mile) course in 1 minute, 38.93 seconds. Renate Goetschl of Austria was second, 0.43 seconds behind. Lindsey Kildow, winner in Val d'Isere last year, was third in 1:39.47.
    ''To win my first World Cup race feels good, but I always knew it was there,'' Mancuso said. ''It was just the case of being able to execute. That was a pretty solid run I'd say. My skis were working for me.''
    Just three days ago, Mancuso's former boyfriend, American Steven Nyman, won his first career race, claiming a downhill at Val Gardena, Italy.
    "I want to thank Steve because he inspired me to this victory," Mancuso said.
    Mancuso, who won the GS gold medal at the Torino Games in February, placed 10th and 39th in downhill races at Lake Louise earlier this month.
    ''I was pretty nervous actually, though I knew I had a pretty good run, but you really never know in skiing,'' Mancuso said. ''I felt like I executed everywhere I could, with no real big mistakes and my lines were good, so I just had to wait.''
    Kildow leads the downhill standings with 240 points, 85 more than Goetschl.
    ''It was quite a good run, but there were two or three problems,'' Goetschl said. ''On two or three gates I didn't have the perfect run. We will see if I can make that up tomorrow.''  
    Anja Paerson of Sweden finished fourth — 0.65 behind Mancuso — despite feeling ill prior to the race.
    ''I had a little bit of a fever this morning, and I did not feel that strong,'' Paerson said. ''So I should feel happy with that performance.''  
    Ingrid Jacquemod of France was fifth, and veteran Alexandra Meissnitzer of Austria sixth.  
    The women's World Cup continues at Val d'Isere with another downhill Wednesday and a slalom on Thursday."For me, it's kind of like I'm finally ‘there.' It was tough in the beginning of the season. I was having a hard time racing, and even if I didn't win, if I had a full run and felt super confident, that would have been good. But I nailed the top and I felt strong," she said.

"On a mission"
Said DH head coach Alex Hoedlmoser, "Jules was on a mission today. It was like she had the devil on her back … and now Lindsey's going to be on a mission tomorrow" in the second downhill on the speed run named for two French Olympic gold medalists.
    Mancuso, rebounding this season after hip surgery in the summer to repair chronic problems, led from the first timing split (0.28 seconds ahead) at about 20 seconds into the race, added a half-second by the second split (0.79), more than a second (1.23) at the third split, dipped a bit (1.14) at the fourth split, added nearly three-tenths — ahead of then-leader (and Val d'Isere native) Jacquemod when she crossed the line.
    "It's a pretty dynamic course," Mancuso explained. "There are tons of rolls and it's pretty fast in certain sections, so I was going for it. It's very technical and you need to be clean and smooth …
    "[Monday] in the training run, I didn't ski great in the second half but on top I was pretty good. There's one turn going into the Meadows [midrace] that you had to nail, and I guess I nailed it and carried my speed down through. I was up over my skis, like I couldn't feel the snow …
    The win comes as an early Christmas present, Mancuso said. "My victory happened just on time, before Christmas, which is good so my family will come over and celebrate this with me."
    Kildow and Mancuso were both sick with stomach flu over the weekend in Reiteralm, Austria. Kildow missed Friday's super combined and skied out in a super G Saturday while Mancuso, noting she probably shouldn't have raced because of the stomach bug, held it together and she tied for 18th in the SG. They traveled Sunday, trained Monday — Kildow didn't finish her run — and raced Tuesday.
    "I slept from four in the afternoon [Friday] until seven o'clock — oh, like, 15 hours … and I felt better Saturday, just dehydrated. I didn't eat dinner the night before and didn't have much energy. I was there [racing] in my head but I'm not so sure my body was there. It was a 24-hour thing. I think I picked it up from Lindsey in between runs of the super G and slalom" in the super combined Friday in Reiteralm.
    Comparing it to her gold medal in GS at the Olympics in Torino last February, she said, "Today's victory on the World Cup is a little different than the one at the Olympics last [season], but just because the Games are so huge. Emotionally, last year was difficult, but today I knew hat I had another chance tomorrow in case today didn't work the way I wanted. It was so exciting to go out there and test my skills.

Teammate on podium
"I'm happy to be on the podium with Lindsey Kildow. You know, a couple of my podiums were with her. She's an awesome skier. It's great to share this victory."
    Kildow echoed her two-time Olympic teammate: "I'm really happy with it, a podium is always good and it's nice Julia and I were on the podium together. That was pretty neat."
    The course, she added, "is quite a bit faster than it's been in the past. They straightened out a couple of gates … and I gave a little late on a couple of turns on the bottom, which cost me. But it's still a podium and that's good.
    "They cleaned things out from the training run and the snow was good, the conditions were excellent."
    "Just a normal day for us in Val d'Isere," Hoedlmoser shrugged before bursting into laughter. "Jules did a great job. She was absolutely fantastic and she nailed every section, no mistakes. Lindsey had
a great run, too, but it would have taken a perfect run to beat Jules. She was good on the top, too, but two or three small mistakes and it kept her away from the win. Still, she was wicked fast and she'll be gunning it tomorrow.
    "For them to come back like this, though, after both of them being sick in Reiteralm was incredible. Jules was not as bad as Lindsey, but she felt weak and must've slept for a day and a half and got better on Sunday. Now, obviously, they're both over it but it still takes quite a bit of energy out of you."
    The women run another downhill Wednesday, this one a makeup from St. Moritz, Switzerland, because of poor snow. Thursday, they head into the holidays break with a slalom.

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THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women's downhill, Val d'Isere, France, Dec. 19, 2006
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Mancuso, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
2 Goetschl, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Kildow, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
4 Paerson , Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
5 Jacquemod, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
6 Meissnitzer, Volkl/Fischer/Marker
7 Vanderbeek, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
8 Recchia, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
9 Gisin, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
10 Fischbacher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Women's downhill, Val d'Isere, Dec. 19, 2006... It is the ninth race of the women's 37-event World Cup schedule. … It is the third DH of nine on the schedule. … The race had originally been scheduled at St. Moritz Dec. 9 but was moved due to a lack of snow and warm weather.
    It is the first career victory for Julia Mancuso. … It is the 167th U.S. win. … It is the fifth U.S. win of the season and fourth different U.S. winner. … She is the second first-time U.S. winner this season. …. It is the second year in a row an American has won DH at Val d'Isere, Lindsey Kildow having won Dec. 17, 2005. … It is the eighth U.S. win associated with Val d'Isere with other winners including AJ Kitt, Bode Miller and Phil Mahre.
    It is the 94th career podium for Renate Goetschl. … Her 50th in DH. … Her fifth at Val d'Isere, though she has never won at the site (four seconds and a third). … She has not won a DH this season and had just one last season, at Cortina Jan. 28.
    It is the 17th career podium for Kildow. … Her fourth of the season. … She was first once and second twice in three races at Lake Louise. … It is the second 1-3 finish for the U.S. this season after Miller and Nyman in DH at Beaver Creek Dec. 1. … It is the 12th U.S. podium of the season.
    Sixth matches a third-best career result for Kelly VanderBeek, her other sixth coming at Lake Louise Dec. 1. … It is the fourth scoring result of the season for Kirsten Clark, third in DH. … It is the sixth scoring result of the season for Emily Brydon, the third outside of the top 10. … Stacey Cook was not only a single-hundredth from scoring, she was just two-hundredths from 28th and three points.
    Nicole Hosp (36th in race) maintains the overall standings lead 421-391 over Goetschl. … Marlies Schild (36th in race) is third at 377, Kildow fourth at 335. … Kildow leads the DH standings 240-175 over Goetschl with Maria Riesch (28th in race) in third at 132. Mancuso vaults to fourth at 126. … Winning margin was .43 of a second. … Top four skiers were within a second. … Top nine within two seconds.

 

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Val d'Isere women's World Cup downhill results

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Total Time	FIS Points
1	21	537545	MANCUSO Julia	1984	USA	1:38.93	0.00
2	29	55069	GOETSCHL Renate	1975	AUT	1:39.36	5.87
3	30	537544	KILDOW Lindsey C	1984	USA	1:39.47	7.37
4	28	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE	1:39.58	8.87
5	5	195671	JACQUEMOD Ingrid	1978	FRA	1:40.45	20.74
6	27	55212	MEISSNITZER Alexandra	1973	AUT	1:40.60	22.79
7	9	106402	VANDERBEEK Kelly	1983	CAN	1:40.61	22.93
8	18	295533	RECCHIA Lucia	1980	ITA	1:40.76	24.97
9	41	515747	GISIN Dominique	1985	SUI	1:40.90	26.88
10	16	55750	FISCHBACHER Andrea	1985	AUT	1:40.95	27.56
11	3	515244	CASANOVA Carmen	1980	SUI	1:41.02	28.52
12	12	515560	SCHILD Martina	1981	SUI	1:41.10	29.61
13	25	515409	BERTHOD Sylviane	1977	SUI	1:41.12	29.88
13	1	515429	DUMERMUTH Monika	1977	SUI	1:41.12	29.88
15	47	375018	COLETTI Alexandra	1983	MON	1:41.15	30.29
15	20	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT	1:41.15	30.29
15	8	515348	BORGHI Catherine	1976	SUI	1:41.15	30.29
18	37	515478	ALPIGER Ella	1979	SUI	1:41.18	30.70
19	24	515170	STYGER Nadia	1978	SUI	1:41.21	31.11
20	48	196460	MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie	1985	FRA	1:41.27	31.93
21	42	296473	SIORPAES Wendy	1985	ITA	1:41.31	32.48
22	33	55538	WIRTH Katja	1980	AUT	1:41.35	33.02
22	7	536138	CLARK Kirsten L	1977	USA	1:41.35	33.02
24	35	105997	BRYDON Emily	1980	CAN	1:41.43	34.12
25	26	515573	AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi	1981	SUI	1:41.51	35.21
26	17	505449	BENT Nike	1981	SWE	1:41.64	36.98
27	11	55588	RUMPFHUBER Ingrid	1981	AUT	1:41.67	37.39
28	39	206175	STECHERT Gina	1987	GER	1:41.77	38.75
28	22	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER	1:41.77	38.75
30	32	515692	GRAND Rabea	1984	SUI	1:41.78	38.89
30	19	296472	FANCHINI Elena	1985	ITA	1:41.78	38.89
32	13	537582	COOK Stacey J	1984	USA	1:41.79	39.03
32	2	225206	ALCOTT Chemmy	1982	GBR	1:41.79	39.03
34	55	495318	RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina	1981	SPA	1:41.86	39.98
34	43	106465	LAWRENCE Sherry	1984	CAN	1:41.86	39.98
36	15	55690	HOSP Nicole	1983	AUT	1:42.08	42.98
36	14	55590	SCHILD Marlies	1981	AUT	1:42.08	42.98
38	6	296008	MERIGHETTI Daniela	1981	ITA	1:42.12	43.53
39	44	55596	WILHELM Kathrin	1981	AUT	1:42.17	44.21
40	34	195983	ROLLAND Marion	1982	FRA	1:42.19	44.49
41	10	205119	HALTMAYR Petra	1975	GER	1:42.28	45.71
42	38	505260	HARGIN Janette	1977	SWE	1:42.32	46.26
43	50	296623	MAZZOTTI Lucia	1985	ITA	1:42.34	46.53
44	53	106022	JANYK Britt	1980	CAN	1:42.39	47.22
45	51	537772	STIEGLER Resi	1985	USA	1:42.65	50.76
46	56	296769	LONGHINI Hilary	1986	ITA	1:42.85	53.49
46	52	565278	RABIC Urska	1985	SLO	1:42.85	53.49
46	4	505632	LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica	1984	SWE	1:42.85	53.49
49	46	296427	SCHNARF Johanna	1984	ITA	1:42.87	53.77
50	36	196412	WEYRICH Clothilde	1985	FRA	1:42.93	54.58
51	45	&nb sp;196573	REVILLET Aurelie	1986	FRA	1:43.02	55.81
52	49	205843	STEMMER Stefanie	1981	GER	1:43.10	56.90
53	57	537626	RICHARDSON Kaylin L	1984	USA	1:43.53	62.77

 

Did not start 1st run:
SIMARD Genevieve (CAN)

Did not finish 1st run:
KRISTJANSDOTTIR Dagny L. (ISL), BARTHET Anne-Sophie (FRA), RUBENS Shona (CAN), FANCHINI Nadia (ITA)