Mancuso off to Worlds on a high – Dan Giesin, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, January 25, 2007 The Alpine World Ski Championships are a little more than a week away, and Julia Mancuso is already getting excited. “I’m going to the Worlds to have some fun,” she said in a media teleconference on Tuesday. “Both on and off the hill. … I’m so excited.” And with good reason — the Squaw Valley native is on an unprecedented roll for an American female ski racer. With a second-place finish in Sunday’s giant slalom at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Mancuso stood on a World Cup podium for the fifth straight event, breaking the U.S. mark of four set by fellow Squaw Valley resident Tamara McKinney in 1983. The streak includes two victories (a super combined at Altenmarkt, Austria, on Jan. 14 and a super-G at Cortina on Friday), two seconds (she also was runner-up in a downhill at Cortina on Saturday), and a third (in a downhill at Altenmarkt on Jan. 13). Throw in a downhill win in a Val d’Isere, France, last month, and Mancuso has accrued enough points (794) on the World Cup circuit to put her in contention for the overall title. She is in third place in the standings, 87 points behind Austria’s Marlies Schild and 34 behind Nicole Hosp, another Austrian. “What Julia’s doing right now is unbelievable,” U.S. women’s team head coach Patrick Riml said. “The last two weekends, she’s had five podiums, won two races … in four different events. It’s impressive; she’s … skiing unbelievably well, no matter what event. … Julia’s not only doing it, she’s doing it at such a high level.” Added teammate Resi Stiegler of Jackson Hole, Wyo., who has come up through the ranks with Mancuso: “I think she is the strongest skier I have ever seen. … She’s in a good position right now in her mind and in her body. When she’s not having fun (racing), she doesn’t do well; right now, she’s loving it.” Mancuso, who won an Olympic gold medal in the giant slalom at the Turin Olympics in February, is definitely in a zone, and her streak is all the more impressive when you consider she had hip surgery in April and didn’t get back on track until mid-autumn. “It was tough earlier in the season, but the hip is definitely feeling better and better,” Mancuso said from San Sicario, Italy, where she will participate in a couple of World Cup super-Gs and a downhill over the weekend. “Everything is working out right. … When you’re winning, you don’t feel the pain.” The surgery benefited Mancuso in another way: Because she didn’t know how the procedure would affect her or how her body would respond, she came into the season without a lot of presuppositions about her prospects. “After the surgery, I re-evaluated my expectations,” she said. “I had no idea what it would be like. … I went into the season with no expectations. I learned a lot.” Topping the list was patience. “I’m taking the season one race at a time,” she said. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t look forward to certain things, and the Alpine World Ski Championships that will be conducted Feb. 3-18 at Are, Sweden, is certainly an event Mancuso, who won a couple of bronze medals at the last Worlds in 2005, is anticipating greatly. “I’m definitely excited about going to the Worlds,” she said. “At an event like the Olympics or the World Championships, you feed off everyone else’s excitement, and the energy of ski racing is brought to another level. I want to feel that energy again.” Whether that energy fuels to her greater glory is not something on which Mancuso dwells. Jules, as she is known among her teammates, just wants to have fun. “Expectations are external; they’re coming from other people,” she said. “It’s just exciting to ski fast. When I’m in the starting gate, I’m just going to go back to the beginning and have fun.” E-mail Dan Giesin at dgiesin@sfchronicle.com.

Mancuso is skiing’s rebel with a cause

 Enlarge By Armando Trovati, AP Julia Mancuso was happy after taking third in the World Cup downhill in Altenmarkt, Austria, this month.  MANCUSO’S SEASON Date Site Discipline Finish Dec. 19 Val d’Isere, France Downhill 1st Dec. 20 Val d’Isere, France Downhill 2nd Dec. 28 Semmering, Austria Giant slalom 4th Dec. 29 Semmering, Austria Slalom DNF Jan. 4 Zagreb-Sljeme, Croatia Slalom 8th Jan. 6 Kranjska Gora, Slovakia Giant slalom DNF Jan. 7 Kranjska Gora, Slovakia Slalom 18th Jan. 13 Altenmarkt, Austria Downhill 3rd Jan. 14 Altenmarkt, Austria Super combined 1st Jan. 19 Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy Super-G 1st Jan. 20 Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy Downhill 2nd Jan. 21 Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy Giant slalom 2nd DNF: Did not finish Source: International Ski Federation

She was the first U.S. female skier to travel around the Alps in her own RV on the World Cup circuit.

She has sometimes raced with a plastic tiara on her head.

“You can be feminine and fast,” she says.

And now, a year after she burst to stardom with a gold medal in the Torino Olympics, she’s interested in getting into the beauty or fashion industry.

Lipstick? Eye shadow? Skiwear?

“I think underwear,” she says, “is my calling.”

Mancuso’s agent for non-skiing endorsements, Lowell Taub, can see Mancuso becoming a breakout personality, transcending her sport, he says, like Serena Williams in tennis or Michelle Wie in golf.

“She’s 22; she’s gorgeous; she’s fit; she’s successful; she’s clean in terms of image,” Taub says. “And she’s very comfortable being in the spotlight.”

When or whether Mancuso’s line of underwear comes out, expect it to be racy, because Mancuso, a 5-6, 140-pounder who goes by the nickname “Super Jules,” is fast, lately the fastest female skier in the world.

In Europe’s warmest winter in years, Mancuso has emerged as the hottest U.S. female skier ever.

Mancuso, who grew up barreling through powder in the mountains around Lake Tahoe, is currently riding a U.S. women’s record streak of five consecutive podium (top-three) finishes in World Cup races.

She won the combined and was third in the downhill in Altenmarkt, Austria, two weekends ago. Last weekend in Cortina, Italy, she won the super-G and was second in the downhill and the giant slalom, the event in which she won her Olympic title last year.

The streak surpassed the streak of four podiums (three wins) by Tamara McKinney in 1983. McKinney went on to win the World Cup overall title, something no American woman has done since.

Mancuso is within striking distance of this year’s title, third in the standings behind Austria’s Marlies Schild and Nicole Hosp.

Mancuso will enter two super-Gs and a downhill this week in San Sicario, Italy, and then head to Are, Sweden, for the Feb. 3-18 Alpine world championships.

The world championship races don’t count in the World Cup standings, but, outside of the Olympics, they are the biggest events in the Alpine ski world. Mancuso had never won a World Cup race before this season, but she has always had a knack for performing well on skiing’s biggest stages.

Starting in 2002, when she won three golds in the junior world championships, she has won medals at major events every season.

Delivering when it counts

Two years ago she was a surprise double bronze medalist in the world championships in Bormio, Italy. And last year, after some disappointing early races in the Olympics, she won the giant slalom.

“My seasons tend to get better and better in January and February,” she says. “I just sort of peak at the right time. Maybe it’s because I really look at the big events as an opportunity rather than someone putting expectations on me. I’ve just been able to shine with everyone watching.”

The clutch performances have paid off because much of the income of a World Cup skier comes from bonuses tied to results in major events.

After the Olympic victory, she signed an extension of an endorsement contract with Visa through 2010, when the Olympics will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her ski equipment deal with Rossignol was extended for two years with the most lucrative terms ever for a U.S. female skier. [Read More...]