KRASNAYA POLYANA - Julia Mancuso again lived up to her reputation as a big-event racer Monday and added to her illustrious career at major ski championships.
Mancuso, 29, won her fourth Olympic medal by taking the bronze in the women's super-combined in spring-like conditions that she is accustomed to back home at Squaw Valley, Calif., the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics.
No other American female skier - not Lindsey Vonn (who is not competing here because of recent knee surgery), not former great Picabo Street - has more than two Olympic medals. FIRST THOUGHTS: BIG MOMENTS: Mancuso shines when lights are bright Mancuso turns to her family
And only four women skiers in history have more Olympic medals than Mancuso's four - Kostelic and Sweden's Anja Paerson with six, and Switzerland's Vreni Schneider and Germany's Katja Seizinger with five.
The super-combined consists of a morning downhill run and, four hours later, an afternoon slalom run. Mancuso, who won the silver medal in this event in Vancouver four years ago, dominated the morning downhill, winning by almost half a second. But she was considered in jeopardy of failing to finish with a medal because she rarely trains slalom, a tricky discipline that takes precise movements. In fact, Mancuso hadn't raced in a slalom all season.
She struggled on the top part of the difficult slalom course, which nine women failed to finish, but she charged at the bottom just hard enough to hang on to third place,behind Germany's Maria Hoefl-Riesch and Austria's Nicole Hosp.
"To be honest, I thought I was blowing it in slalom," Mancuso said. "But I knew to just fight to the finish, because you have no idea. I'm sure it was one of those courses where everyone didn't feel great. Crossing the finish line, just seeing my name in the top three, it didn't even matter that I could have been better. All that mattered was crossing the finish line with a solid run.
"Of course, getting another medal is really a dream come true."
Not only was Mancuso skiing in weather conditions she likes, and on the softer snow warm weather produces, but also in front of a large contingent of family members. KEEPING TRACK: Olympic updates
She tweeted between runs that she was thinking of her late grandfather, who was a huge fan of her ski racing career until he died about a year ago. PRESSURE'S ON: Ovechkin carries Russia's hopes
She tweeted: "My grandpa is smiling down at me from heaven and saying I can be proud no matter what happens! This one's for you Grandpa Denny :)"
The result, particularly her superlative showing in the downhill, stamps her as one of the favorites for Wednesday's women's downhill.
"Amazing," U.S. women's coach Alex Hoedlmoser said of Mancuso's downhill run.
Of her hanging on and getting through the slalom gates, he said, "It was a very strong performance in her mind. She set the tone and just decided to do it. She's a true champion and that's why she can do these things. She gets so excited at the Olympics."
Mancuso's scorching downhill time of 1 minute, 42.68 seconds put her 0.86 seconds ahead of Slovenian Tina Maze and 1.04 seconds ahead of Hoefl-Riesch, two of the big favorites in this event.
She was the last of the contenders to leave the start hut in the slalom, with the scoreboard showing Hoefl-Riesch first, Hosp second and Maze third.
Mancuso's slalom time of 52.47 was the 13th-fastest, but her overall combined time of 2 minutes, 35.15 seconds knocked Maze into fourth place by just 0.10 seconds.
Maria Hoefl-Riesch (center) won gold, Nicole Hosp (left) silver and Julia Mancuso bronze in the women's super combined.(Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY Sports)
Hoefl-Riesch, the German superstar and close friend of Vonn who conceivably could win five medals here, won the gold with a time of 2:34.62. Hosp took the silver, 0.40 seconds back, and Mancuso was 0.13 seconds behind Hosp.
It was the third career Olympic alpine skiing gold for Hoefl-Riesch. Only former Croatian star Janica Kostelic has more with four.
Since the 2010 Olympics, Mancuso has failed to finish 10 of 14 World Cup slalom events, with a top finish of 20th. And, during that time, she has not finished on the podium in eight World Cup super-combined events.
But once again, a major stage revealed a major talent.
"I thought this event was a long shot for me," she said. "I have less than 10 days of slalom training this year. Sometimes that's better. Just go for it. I grew up skiing slalom so I knew I can do it. So that's pretty much what I did, just believe it was still there."
Mancuso, as she did in Torino in 2006 in winning a snowy giant slalom and again in Vancouver in 2010 when she won two silver medals, used the energy of a major event to fuel her competitive drive.
"I just know to never give up," she said. "That's a big part of it. The Olympics just causes me to bring that extra bit of intensity."
She has also lucked into good conditions for her in the last three Winter Olympics. TOP SHOTS FROM WOMEN'S SUPER COMBINED
"For sure it helps that the last few Olympics have been places where it's warm," she said. "This is the kind of snow we get in California. In Torino, it was the snowstorms that we get (in northern California). Now, it's that California sun that I'm feeling when I'm up on the hill."
Mancuso had a horrible start to this season and didn't finish in the top 10 of a World Cup race until Jan. 23.
Now she's peaking again at the right time.
"The Olympics is my redemption," she said, "and the time when I can make my season better."
Original Post by: http://ift.tt/1fT0xtu
http://ift.tt/1fT0xtu