Skip navigation
Site powered by
Latest news:
msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines: 9 die in Kosovo avalanche; child survives

Mancuso still holds hopes to win overall title

Skier, currently 4th, can become first American to win crown since 1983

Image: MancusoAP
Julia Mancuso is the only one of the four skiers seriously in the running for the title who excels in each of the weekend’s disciplines — super-combi on Friday, downhill on Saturday and super-G on Sunday.

TARVISIO, Italy - Julia Mancuso’s bid to become the first American woman to win the World Cup overall title in 24 years will depend a lot on how she skis this weekend on a course where she already has tasted success.

Mancuso is the only one of the four skiers seriously in the running for the title who excels in each of the weekend’s disciplines — super-combi on Friday, downhill on Saturday and super-G on Sunday.

“I just have to not think of that and have good races,” Mancuso said. “I have to take it one race at a time.”

Mancuso is attempting to become the first American woman to win the overall title since Tamara McKinney in 1983.

The World Cup circuit is racing in Tarvisio for the first time, but Mancuso has been here before. She won the downhill title on this course at the 2002 junior world championships.

“I wouldn’t say it suits me, but I guess so,” Mancuso said Thursday after posting the second-fastest time in downhill training. “It’s just really flat. But there’s good turns, so it’s fun. It’s kind of narrow.”

Mancuso is in a race with three Austrians for the overall title.

Marlies Schild leads the overall standings with 1,052 points, Renate Goetschl is second with 1,019, Nicole Hosp is next with 989 and Mancuso is fourth with 959.

Schild and Hosp are technical specialists, while Goetschl excels in the speed events. Goetschl hurt both knees slightly in a training crash Thursday, but still planned to compete in the weekend’s three races.

Goetschl, who already has clinched the super-giant slalom crown, also has a chance to clinch the season’s downhill title Saturday. She has a 134-point lead over Mancuso with only one more downhill remaining after this weekend.

Schild clinched the slalom title in Sierra Nevada, Spain, last weekend and leads the super-combi standings.

Tarvisio is located in the northeastern corner of Italy, nestled between the Austrian and Slovenian borders. Men’s races this weekend in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, are only a 20-minute drive away.

The start of the Prampero course is located below the Lussari sanctuary, a site that has attracted religious pilgrims for centuries.

The course’s narrowest point is only 38 yards wide. But at 1.9 miles, it’s one of the longest courses on the women’s circuit.

Slideshow
Image: Snee, 8, son of New York Giants player Chris Snee and head coach Coughlin's grandson plays in the confetti after the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game in Indianapolis
  The Week in Sports Pictures
The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more.

more photos

Anja Paerson, a Swede who won three world titles last month on her home turf in Are, will be competing this weekend in the same three disciplines she swept at the world championships. She’s out of the running for the overall title, but clearly has favorites for the weekend.

“I really hope Goetschl wins. She deserves it. She’s been trying so hard and she’s at the end of her career,” Paerson said, adding that she is rooting against Schild because “I don’t want to see a girl who wins (only) slaloms win the overall.”

Mancuso, an all-around skier, is Paerson’s second choice. Mancuso’s three victories this season have come in three different disciplines — downhill, super-combi and super-G. At last year’s Turin Olympics, Mancuso won the giant slalom.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement
More news
Image: Pekingese Palacegarden Malachy trots in ring at the 135th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York
Reuters
Pekingese favored to be top dog

Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.

NY cable dispute blacks out Knicks, 4 NHL teams

NEW YORK (AP) - As the glow fades from the Giants' Super Bowl triumph, some New York sports fans are tuning in to basketball and hockey, with the Rangers in first place and the Knicks' overnight sensation, Jeremy Lin, sparking "Lin-sanity.''

Image:
AP
Six new breeds will join show at Westminster

Robins: This year, six new breeds will be making their debut on the green carpet for the Westminster Dog Show, which begins Monday.

Slide show
Image: Snee, 8, son of New York Giants player Chris Snee and head coach Coughlin's grandson plays in the confetti after the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game in Indianapolis
  The Week in Sports Pictures
The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more.

more photos

Slideshow
Boston Celtics v Indiana Pacers
  Who's hot on Twitter?
Check out which of your favorite athletes have the best pages and most followers!

NBCSports.com

Special feature
"American Woman: Fashioning A National Identity" Met Gala - Arrivals
When athletes and celebs get together
A look at the many links between sports and Hollywood stars.

NBCSports.com

Slideshow
Image: To match Special Report CAMPAIGN/ROMNEY-OLYMPICS
  Presidential candidates and sports
How do President Obama and his Republican rivals stack up when it comes to their sports backgrounds?