Copper Mountain – In a sport notorious for capricious breaks and infinitesimal margins separating success from failure, everything seems to fall into place for Julia Mancuso when the stakes are greatest.
She had never been on a World Cup podium before she won two medals at the 2005 world alpine championships at age 20.
She never had the lead after the first run of a World Cup race before she did it in giant slalom at the Turin Olympics. She made it hold up in the second run and claimed a gold medal, having never won a World Cup race.
“I’ve always been a big-event performer,” said Mancuso, who also won five gold medals and two bronze in three trips to the world juniors championships, 2002-04. “Maybe it’s just that everyone else isn’t on their game.”
Luck? Hardly. Ski team coaches say Mancuso is a natural skier and gifted athlete who has the ability to let her skis run, take a more direct line than others and recover quickly from mistakes.
“Those are gifts,” women’s head coach Patrick Riml said. “That’s why she’s where she’s at. That’s why she’s a gold medalist.”
She also is a free spirit – remember the tiara? – who talks more about having fun than winning.
“When I’m on the road and I’m ski racing, it’s all about fun,” Mancuso said last week. “It’s always between me and the snow. It’s something I’m good at. I like to challenge myself and push myself to new levels in skiing, not necessarily winning. As long as I’m happy on the road, that to me is the goal.”
That approach can be interpreted as a lack of seriousness, and former ski team great Picabo Street let Mancuso have it on the “Today” show during the Turin Games.
“I think there’s an immaturity and a lack of focus and a lack of professionalism,” Street said before Mancuso won. “She just has a lot of growing up to do – and lose the tiara.”
Street was a more ferocious competitor, perhaps, but it is hard to argue with Mancuso’s results at big events. Having raced on the World Cup full time since 2001, she has as many major championship medals as World Cup podiums (three of each).
“I don’t really feel pressure, I feel like it’s an opportunity,” Mancuso said of her affinity for big events. “It’s never about letting someone down because it’s all about yourself. Of course I let myself down sometimes, but that’s only if I haven’t mentally and physically prepared myself for that moment.”
At the 2005 world championships in Bormio, Italy, Mancuso won a super-G bronze medal on a gnarly course that humbled the favorites. Ten days later she captured another bronze in GS.
“I’ve always dreamt about an Olympic medal and I dreamt of world championship medals,” Mancuso said. “I can put that out there at the beginning of the season, like ‘These are my overall goals,’ and when it comes to that day I’m not like, ‘I need to win, I need to win.’ I’m more relaxed and I enjoy myself.
“If I can go about every day in life just focusing on the now and being happy in what I’m doing, it’s just a healthy way to live.”
Mancuso might begin this season slowly because she had surgery last spring to repair a torn labrum in her hip, a chronic injury that had been causing her pain for two seasons. The surgery and rehab interfered with her offseason training, which gave her a good mental break but put her behind schedule.
“She can be on the podium in three events,” Riml said. “I don’t expect her to win right away in Aspen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she did.”
At least she will have her boots this year. Last year they got lost en route to Aspen from Lake Louise, Alberta, and she didn’t get them back until the first week in January.
“I had some problems last year because I didn’t have my boots,” Mancuso said of Aspen. “I’m always real excited….It’s an awesome hill and I’m excited about having my boots there.”
