WINTER PARK, Colo.—Tommy Ford and Julia Mancuso mastered the mushy snow conditions at U.S. championships Saturday, adding super-G titles to their expanding collections.
Ford and Mancuso also won giant slalom crowns at nationals this week as they prove to be quite adept at skiing in warm springtime conditions.
Leading off the men’s competition, Ford flew down the twisty course in 1 minute, 10.10 seconds, a time that held up as Tommy Biesemeyer finished 0.10 seconds behind. Ryan Cochran-Siegle was third on an afternoon when temperatures soared into the 50s, making for slushy snow and creating plenty of ruts.
Ford, of Bend, Ore., has now won the last five U.S. events he’s entered. He took the giant slalom title Thursday, along with the GS, slalom and combined at nationals last spring.
All those wins have come in similar conditions.
For that, he credits his background at Mt. Bachelor.
“It’s got a lot of soft snow, a lot of good snow, but a lot of soft snow,” Ford said. “So you develop a touch with that.”
Mancuso honed her ability to carve swiftly through soft snow in Squaw Valley, Calif. In fact, she spent a few days freeskiing there just before nationals.
That’s paying off now.
Mancuso glided through the course in 1 minute, 13.34 seconds, edging Leanne Smith by 0.20 seconds. Mancuso also won the giant slalom crown Friday.
“It’s really nice to win races. It’s not something that happens very often for me, especially because I’m racing World Cup all the time,” said Mancuso, who has five World Cup wins, including the final downhill of the season last month. “It’s fun to go to nationals and win.”
That’s something she’s done quite often. Mancuso has extended her record to 13 national titles and has a chance to earn another in a slalom race Sunday. She moved ahead of Andrea Mead Lawrence last spring for most national titles by an American, a mark that had stood for 55 years.
This was Mancuso’s first super-G national title in four years. She also won in 2003, beating, among others, Lindsey Vonn, known then as Lindsey Kildow. Vonn skipped these nationals to rest after a long World Cup season.
Stacey Cook finished third on a soft course that featured quite a few tight turns, causing many skiers to fail to finish.
Cook also took third in the giant slalom.
“It’s my week of thirds, I guess,” Cook said, laughing. “I’m happy to be on the podium. Julia is on fire right now, and Leanne has also had some incredible super-G results this year. I’m psyched to be close to them.”
Mancuso is ending her season after nationals. She will head to Squaw Valley for more freeskiing, then swap her skis for a surfboard and waves in Hawaii.
She figures that will be good therapy for her chronically sore right hip, something that’s given her grief since a crash in 2003.
But as long as it’s not her back again, the three-time Olympic medalist will simply compete through it.
“As long as I’m just dealing with my hip, and feel strong, and it’s not going into my back again, that’s good,” Mancuso said. “My back feels awesome now.”
Days like this make it hard for Mancuso to leave the hill. The sun-splashed course made for some mushy conditions. But that hardly mattered.
“Nice to race in this weather,” Mancuso said. “It’s a beautiful day out here. One of those moments where you’re really thankful for your job.”
