Early end to season possible for Mancuso

The U.S. might be missing one familiar face at next week’s World Cup Finals in Meribel, France. Julia Mancuso has announced that she will be taking a brief break from racing and is heading back to the U.S. Mancuso, who has been troubled with hip pain her entire career, decided to sit out last Sunday’s super G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in attempts to alleviate the persistent pain. She then announced via social media that she would be returning to the U.S. to seek treatment and a solution for her long-running hip injury.

“In Garmisch the pain was too high to ski a race hill like that and handle the forces and everything, and at the end you have to think about the future,” said head speed coach Stef Abplanalp. “She wants to continue through the next Olympics and if you are injured and you have a weak point in your body you risk getting injured on another part.”

Mancuso had surgery in 2006 following her Olympic gold medal in Torino on the same hip she is struggling with currently and was able to come back strong the following season. This year looked to be a promising one for Mancuso with a string of three straight top-10 results in Lake Louise, including a podium in the second downhill, which was part of the first-ever American sweep in a World Cup. She took a brief break following World Championships and missed the next World Cup weekend. Since returning, she has struggled to find her early season form and according to reports, she has not felt “right” all season long.

“You know it was working really well at the beginning of the season then like in the middle of January it started to bother her a bit more … she really tried hard and it kind of worked,” admitted Abplanalp. “But now we were at a point to perform at a high level to achieve the goals and race fast and the issue of the hip made it not possible anymore.”

It is unknown if this break will last through the weekend or the remainder of the season, but most likely she will miss the final World Cup races to get healthy again.

“Goal wise she is in the top 15 in super G and downhill,” said Abplanalp. “At the Finals the goal was to get into the top seven group, but with the issue of the hip it would be difficult and so that was the reason we decided to send her home and get her fix again … no, it doesn’t look like she will do the Finals.”

She will be evaluated when she returns home and will move forward from there. Mancuso currently sits ninth in the World Cup super G standings, 12th in downhill, and 15th overall.

Only the top-25 in the World Cup standings are invited to participate at World Cup Finals. The U.S. has qualified a total of five athletes in the speed events. In addition to Mancuso, Lindsey Vonn who leads the standings in both super G and downhill will be there, Laurenne Ross has qualified in both super G and downhill, Stacey Cook in downhill, and Alice McKennis in her comeback season qualified for downhill. The technical events are still up for grabs, with the final regular season World Cup races taking place this weekend. Mikaela Shiffrin has guaranteed her spots at finals, sitting first and third in the slalom and giant slalom standings, respectively. Paula Moltzan, as the newly crowned World Junior slalom champion, also gets an invite, but is reportedly turning it down to focus on improving her points in giant slalom at NorAm finals.

Mancuso, who turned 31 on Monday, has no plans of ending her career anytime soon and has said she will race through the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, Korea.

“She was brave and really tried to do the best, and we know it (the hip) works as we could see at the beginning of the season,” said Abplanalp. “We have to pay more attention for the next three years to this and then make a good program … so that we can prevent it so that the pain doesn’t come back again.”