One day after Lindsey Vonn captured her monumental 50th career World Cup victory to join an exclusive club, American rival Julia Mancuso of Lake Tahoe stole the spotlight on Sunday afternoon.
Mancuso won the super-G for her first World Cup victory of the season. Meanwhile, Vonn skied off the course and did not finish after starting her run poorly in the freezing weather on the icy Kandahar course in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
A Squaw Valley product, Mancuso skied a clean run on the course, which featured bright sunlight and deep shadows alternating, creating poor visibility. She won on the same slope where she clinched the super-G silver medal at last year’s World Championship.
“I thought when I crossed the finish line, ‘If that wasn’t good enough, then I don’t know what is,”’ Mancuso said in an Associated Press story. “I didn’t feel like I had the best run, but I kept my skies stable the whole way. You couldn’t see, I just had to try to stay on it. You have to go fast and not care where you are. I like to see – it’s better when it’s sunny – but it gives me an advantage, because I know I can perform in difficult conditions.”
For Mancuso, who owns two Olympic silver medals, it was her first super-G win since 2007 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Mancuso has six career World Cup wins.
On Saturday, Vonn won her 50th World Cup win in the downhill on the same slope. But in the super-G, she was forced to wait for her start for about three minutes while officials fixed a gate and Vonn could not hold her line Sunday after hitting a bump midway down the icy piste. Following her run, Vonn quickly left the finish area without comment.
Four of the first six starters also failed to finish and several others joined the group, including Tina Maze of Slovenia, Vonn’s closet challenger for the World Cup overall title. Vonn still has a massive lead of 482 points.
Mancuso finished in 1 minute, 20.50 seconds and Anna Fenninger of Austria was second, 0.13 seconds behind.
Vonn leads the World Cup super-G standings with 313 and has a 20-point lead on Fenninger. Mancuso is third with 269 points. Mancuso is sixth in the overall standings through 28 events.
Read more Examiner.com ski stories:
- Lindsey Vonn joins select club by capturing 50th World Cup victory
- Check out the latest snowfall for Lake Tahoe ski resorts
- Head to the backcountry or take lessons from Olympic legend Jonny Moseley
- Shaun White takes Winter X Games with perfect score on Superpipe
- Could Lake Tahoe host the next Winter X Games?
- Tahoe has many family-friendly ski resorts that also feature a friendly price
- Lake Tahoe ski resorts open new terrain
- Shaun White pepares for X Games this week
- Snow report: Up to 6 feet of new snow at Lake Tahoe ski resorts
- Check out Shaun White video on “Conan’ this week. Flying Tomato shows up with new hairstyle — will he cut his hair?
- When is the best time to teach your kids to ski or snowboard?
- Shaun White Superpipe at Northstar ski resort being used by other famed riders — Danny Davis, Elena Hight, Hannah Teter
- Julia Mancuso enjoys big weekend in World Cup skiing; U.S. teammate Lindsey Vonn struggles due to illness
- Ski resorts nationwide are experiencing lack of snow this season
- Shaun White looks forward to training at his Norhstar 22-foot high superpipe this season
- Environmentalist groups file lawsuit against Homewood expansion
- Mt. Rose ski resort in Lake Tahoe announces expansion plans
Enjoy this article? Receive e-mail alerts when new SF Skiing Examiner articles are available. Just click on the “Subscribe”button above.
View more posts in: English News









