Altenmarkt: Mancuso, Kildow top super combi

ALTENMARKT-ZAUCHENSEE, Austria — Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow — who were 1-2 a month ago in a downhill won by Kildow in France — finished 1-2 in a World Cup super combined race Sunday with Resi Stiegler finishing fourth for the best World Cup finish by U.S. women in history.
    American Stacey Cook was 20th.
    Mancuso, who was third Saturday in the downhill, and Kildow filled the top two spots in the downhill portion of the one-day super combined, which includes a run of downhill followed by one run of slalom. Stiegler, who is branching beyond her traditional gate-running strengths, was 14th in the DH.
   "What a great victory for me, but for the team also," Mancuso said. "This is one of the best days for American skiing since a very long time."
    Like since the 1984 Olympic GS when Americans Deb Armstrong, Christin Cooper and Tamara McKinney went one-two-four. Such a lofty result has never been accomplished by American women in a World Cup race.

ALTENMARKT-ZAUCHENSEE, Austria — Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow — who were 1-2 a month ago in a downhill won by Kildow in France — finished 1-2 in a World Cup super combined race Sunday with Resi Stiegler finishing fourth for the best World Cup finish by U.S. women in history.
    Mancuso, who was third Saturday in the downhill, and Kildow filled the top two spots in the downhill portion of the one-day super combined, which includes a run of downhill followed by one run of slalom. Stiegler, who is branching beyond her traditional gate-running strengths, was 14th in the DH.
    Mancuso's winning time was 2 minutes, 9.16 seconds with Kildow — producing the fourth-fastest slalom despite the softening snow — second in 2:09.22. World Cup leader Marlies Schild of Austria was third and Stiegler, who had the second-fastest leg of slalom, finished in 2:10.19. Stacey Cook was 20th.
    "What a great victory for me, but for the team also," Mancuso said. "This is one of the best days for American skiing since a very long time."
    Like since the 1984 Olympic GS when Americans Deb Armstrong, Christin Cooper and Tamara McKinney went one-two-four. Such a lofty result has never been accomplished by American women in a World Cup race. (U.S. men went 1-2-4 in Beaver Creek a year ago with Bode Miller, Daron Rahlves and Erik Schlopy — despite a broken hand — accomplishing the feat.)
    Mancuso and Kildow had led after the super G portion of the super-combi and made their placing stand-up while Stiegler got a little help when Anja Paerson was DQ'd in the slalom leg.

Teammates swap secrets of success
    "Resi and I just shared some secrets to help each of us," Mancuso laughed in the finish, as she referred to swapping her advice on running the downhill in return for Stiegler's tips on handling the slalom set. "I didn't make the mistakes I made yesterday. I didn't how fast I was going but I thought I could be top five."
    Mancuso had the fastest time in the lone training run Thursday and was on a course to possibly win Saturday's downhill until she misplayed a section at the bottom of the course, lost time and dropped to third. Sunday, she charged all the way, she said.
    At the finish, she rolled around on her back on the snow, her skis in the air and got up wearing a California-size smile. She told journalists her new slalom boots "were really the secret" to her strong slalom performance. "I didn't do my best slalom run but as you can see it was enough for me to make it across the finish line with the victory in my pocket."
    She said no one really had a good idea of what to expect from the slalom hill. "In inspection the snow had changed incredibly from the last few days to today, it was completely different snow.  Before it was kind of polar and the bottom was wetter so it had kind of frozen over and was that frozen spring snow and now it was melting like soft paste. It was crazy."
    She said she had rarely, if ever, started that far back in a slalom and was concerned looking down from the starhouse. "The first couple of gates looked like they were getting chewed up. It had been really slow in inspection, but it really held up well. I thought the groove would be a lot bigger and maybe some holes. … But I could ski my line. Resi was funny, saying 'This is sweet, like skiing California'."
    It's the second World Cup win of her career for the Olympic giant slalom champion, who took a downhill in Val d'Isere, France, before Christmas; Kildow was third in that one and the next day she won with Mancuso second.
    Being on the podium for a third time with Kildow "is so cool … It's so much more fun for me when I can share the podium with a teammate," said the 22-year-old Lake Tahoe skier, who came up through the Squaw Valley racing program.

Kildow determined to finish DH this time
    Kildow, also 22 and who went out a day earlier on an icy turn, said she handled the tricky spot "by standing up — it wasn't fast for me, but today I made it to the finish. The conditions turned to soft and slushy [in the slalom], like spring conditions or summer training, but I ski well in that, so I just made sure to keep my feet underneath me and not slip. The slalom was pretty soft but they did a good job preparing the course. I tried to keep my feet in the ruts and work it because I wanted a solid run."
    The current World Cup downhill leader added, "It was really a little like my first run since I didn't make it down in training and crashed yesterday. It was a little conservative; I know I can ski faster but my goal today was to be in the finish."
    With only Schild breaking up the American surge, Stiegler, 21, whose father is Austrian Olympic champion and multi-medalist Pepi Stiegler, said, "We've only got one Austrian to get out of the way and we can sweep [the combined] at Worlds. We can do it!" Kildow added, "I think we can, too. She was so close [to the podium] Resi's skiing downhill so well now and if we all ski as we can, we could do it."
    Head coach Patrick Riml was almost shell-shocked. "It's unbelievable what happened, just unbelievable. If you asked me at breakfast if we could go 1-2-4 I would have said that's wishful thinking; in the last combined, Julia and Lindsey were sick. We know our girls can be in there if they're skiing well, but this is crazy … just so great because we all know this is within their skill.
    "Resi's improved so much in speed. Every day she's getting more comfortable and today she had a great downhill and then, even in the middle of the [start] pack, she was outstanding … second best run. Obviously, for Julia — if you win you've done a helluva job, and she did … and Lindsey was skiing amazing.
    It is the second time this season Mancuso and Kildow have been 1-2, with Kildow winning the second of two downhills at Val d'Isere with Mancuso secoond.   

Riml: Don't forget Cook's performance
    "It's never easy after you cra
sh in a downhill, like Lindsey did. But her downhill was so good and then her slalom showed her real potential," Riml said. "She says she didn't push that downhill but she was second so you know she was charging all the way but also wanted to play it a little conservative …   
    "And let's not overlook Stacey. She was super in slalom, just a helluva run for her."
    The next women's races are in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, with a super G Friday, downhill Saturday and giant slalom Sunday.

THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women's Combined, Zauchensee/Altenmarkt, Austria, Jan. 14, 2007
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Mancuso, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
2 Kildow, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossigno
3 Schild, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Stiegler, Dynastar/Lange/Look
5 Zahrobska, Head/Head/Tyrolia
6 Hosp, Volkl/Fischer/Marker
7 Kirchgasser, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Weirather, Volkll/Tecnica/Marker
9 Jacquemod, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
9 Brydon, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

Women's super-Combined, Altenmarkt/Zauchensee, Austria, Jan. 14, 2007. … It is the 18th race of the women's 37 event World Cup schedule. … It is the second of three scheduled combineds. … It was a super-G/slalom combined.
    It is the second career World Cup win for Julia Mancuso. … Also her second of the season. … It is the 170th U.S. Cup win. … Mancuso matches Diann Roffe, Billy Kidd, Tyler Palmer and Kyle Rasmussen for 19th on the All-time U.S. win list. … It is her fifth top five placing this season and second podium in two days having placed third in downhill Jan. 13. … With nine wins on the season the U.S. team has matched the 1982 team for the most wins before the end of January, with two weeks of racing left.
   It is the 19th career podium for Lindsey Kildow. … Her second ever in combined. … She has completed eight races this season with six podium results.
    It is the 31st career podium for Marlies Schild. … Her third in combined. … It is her tenth podium of the season and second in combined having previously won at Reiteralm Dec. 15.
    Resi Stiegler matches her career best placing of fourth from the Are slalom March 17, 2006. … It is her best result of the season and her best combined result ever. … Emily Brydon matches her second best result of the season by one placing having been eighth in SG at Lake Louise. … She was also ninth in the Reiteralm combined. … Shona Rubens matches her second best career result. … It is her best result for the season. … A 19th place result matches the second best of the season for Britt Janyk. … It is the third best result of the season for Stacey Cook. … It is her first World Cup combined scoring result. … It is the first Cup scoring result for Emilie Desforges.
    Marlies Schild extends her overall tour lead to 881-748 over Nicole Hosp (6th in race). … Kathrin Zettel (did not race) is third at 562. … Julia Mancuso in the top American on the overall list at fifth with 534 and Kildow is sixth at 528. … Schild leads the combined standings 160-116 over Michaela Kirchgasser (7th in race) with Mancuso in third at 115.

Did not start 1st run :

ACTON Brigitte (CAN)

Did not finish 1st run :

RICHARDSON Kaylin L (USA)

Did not finish 2nd run :

DETTLING Andrea (SUI), BORSOTTI Camilla (ITA), PAERSON Anja (SWE), RIESCH Maria (GER), FISCHBACHER Andrea (AUT), SIORPAES Wendy (ITA), HARGIN Janette (SWE), CHMELAR Fanny (GER)

Disqualified 2nd run :

MAZZOTTI Lucia (ITA)