Tarvisio: Mancuso wins DH; Goetschl takes crystal

By Published On: March 3rd, 2007Comments Off on Tarvisio: Mancuso wins DH; Goetschl takes crystal

Julia Mancuso won a World Cup downhill Saturday and Renate Goetschl finished second to take the season’s discipline title.
    Mancuso skied the 2.991-kilometer (1.9-mile) Prampero course in 1 minute, 52.67 seconds for her fourth win of the season. Goetschl was second, 0.17 seconds behind, and Emily Brydon of Canada was third, 0.21 back.
    Mancuso won the giant slalom at last year’s Torino Olympics but had never won a World Cup race entering this season.
    “I’m psyched. I just started winning races this year, so it’s awesome,” Mancuso said. “I always have good races in Italy."


TARVISIO, Italy — Julia Mancuso won a World Cup downhill Saturday and Renate Goetschl finished second to take the season’s discipline title.
    Mancuso skied the 2.991-kilometer (1.9-mile) Prampero course in 1 minute, 52.67 seconds for her fourth win of the season. Goetschl was second, 0.17 seconds behind, and Emily Brydon of Canada was third, 0.21 back.
    Mancuso won the giant slalom at last year’s Torino Olympics but had never won a World Cup race entering this season.
    “I’m psyched. I just started winning races this year, so it’s awesome,” Mancuso said. “I always have good races in Italy.”
    Marlies Schild finished seventh and retained her lead in the overall World Cup standings with 1,148 points, while Mancuso moved up to second on 1,139. Nicole Hosp dropped to third with 1,103 after finishing 17th and Goetschl was fourth on 1,099.
    American Kirsten Clark was a season-best eighth, with Stacey Cook 15th, Libby Ludlow 31st and Resi Stiegler 32nd.
    Goetschl injured both of her knees in a training crash Thursday and skipped Friday’s super combi.
    “She felt pain, but she knew she needed a result right behind Mancuso to win the cup,” Austrian Alpine Director Hans Pum said. “You could see it in her eyes how focused she was."
    “I was going to ski today no matter what,” Goetschl said. “I wanted to win the cup.”
    Goetschl clinched the downhill title with one race to spare. She has 605 points, while Mancuso is second with 491. Wins are worth 100 points each so Goetschl has an insurmountable lead.
    It’s the fifth downhill title of Goetschl’s career, matching fellow Austrian Franz Klammer for the record.
    “Franz Klammer is a legend and I also know him,” Goetschl said. “Whenever you hear the name Franz Klammer you think downhill, and I’ve always thought downhill also.”
    “She’s the speed queen,” Pum said. “I think she’s the greatest now.”
    Goetschl has also wrapped up this season's super G title, while Schild has clinched the slalom and super combi cups. The only discipline title still up for grabs is giant slalom, with Hosp leading the standings.
    While the Austrians could sweep the small crystal globes, Mancuso has her eyes set on the large crystal overall trophy.
    “It takes a lot of races. I’m trying to concentrate on one race at a time,” said Mancuso, who also won the silver medal in combined at last month’s World Championships.
    Mancuso now has the most single-season wins by a U.S. woman since Picabo Street won six races (all DHs) in the 1995 season.
    As journalists asked about closing in on the overall points lead, Mancuso — who took off for five days to rest before this final attack — said, as she’s said before, “I’m really trying not to think of it. You guys make me think of it.
    “For me, it’s more important that I focus on tomorrow’s race, not the overall … and if I keep doing well, the points will keep growing. But I try not to think of it.”
    The Olympic giant slalom champion has likened accumulating World Cup points to accumulating frequent flyer miles: “The more you do [fly], the more you get … but I don’t think about them.”
    Mancuso, who was second Friday in a super combined, said the bottom of the course may have made her run look more dramatic than it was. “It was bumpy and there was flat light, but — for me — it can’t be fast enough now. I love the speed; it’s so much fun to go fast down these hills,” Mancuso said.
    Clark’s time was 1:53.25 and Cook finished in 1:53.90 as they confirmed downhill rankings inside the top 25, the cutoff for World Cup Finals March 14-18 in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
    Clark was pleased with her top 10. “I’ve been fast in the training runs and knew I could do it. I was feeling confident and I was charging. It was tough because of the spring conditions, which made it hard — you’ve gotta be over your skis. It’s nice I’ll be going to Lenzerheide; that’s a special place for me,” she said, an obvious reference to her World Cup DH victory there in 2001.

Riml pumped
    “It was an unbelievable show today from Julia … just incredible what she did. She didn’t have the best light — it was flat light for just about everyone, but she really wanted it,” head coach Patrick Riml said.
    “She was a little behind but she kept going faster and skied so well on the bottom. It was 100 percent commitment,” Riml said. “She just stuck her nose in there and charged …
    “And ‘Clarky’ and Stacey did well, too. They’ll be going to World Cup Finals in two weeks, which is good. They’ve worked hard this season and this is a nice payback for them.”
    The women have a super G Sunday and then go to Zwiesel, Germany, for a giant slalom and slalom before World Cup Finals begin March 14 in Lenzerheide.

Wolf crashes hard
    Tamara Wolf, the second skier on course, had an ugly crash and was airlifted to a local hospital.
    After a 25-minute delay, the next skier on course — Chemmy Alcott of Britain — also fell. Alcott, Mancuso’s best friend on the circuit, lost control after crossing the finish line but appeared uninjured.
    Daniela Merighetti of Italy, who led Thursday’s training session, also crashed, bruising her elbow.
    World champion Anja Paerson skied off course midway through her run.
    Mancuso watched Wolf’s crash on TV and decided to do some freeskiing before her run to clear her mind.
    “It was so bad, but it always looks worse on TV,” Mancuso said. “You can’t think about it. It’s skiing, and life. Unlucky things happen.”


THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women's downhill, Tarvisio, Italy, March 3, 2007

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Mancuso, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
2 Goetschl, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Brydon, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
4 Goergl, Blizzard/La
nge/Marker
5 Vanderbeek, Volkl/Lange/Marker
6 Styger, Volkl/Lange/Marker
7 Schild, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Clark, Fischer/Lange/Fischer
9 Alcott, Fischer//Tyrolia 10 Janyk, Volkl/Lange/Marker

10 Janyk,  Volkl/Lange/Marker

Women's downhill, Tarvisio, Italy, March 3, 2007. … It is the 28th race of the women's 37-race World Cup schedule. … It is the eighth of nine scheduled downhills. … It is the second of three races set at Tarvisio in the resort's inaugural World Cup appearance. … The race was delayed when the second racer (Tamara Wolf of Switzerland) crashed and required airlifting.
    It is the fourth career win for Julia Mancuso and her fourth of the season. … It is her second DH win after Val d'Isere Dec. 19. … It is the 173rd U.S. World Cup win. … Mancuso sits alone in 12th place on the all-time U.S. win list, having passed Barb Cochran, Bill Johnson, Hilary Lindh, Julie Parisien, Marilyn Cochran, Holly Flanders and Judy Nagel. … It is the 47th U.S. DH win. … Of Mancuso's 12 World Cup podium placings, seven have come in Italy. … It is the 12th U.S. win of the season.
    It is the 101st World Cup podium for Renate Goetschl, her 11th of the season. … It is her 54th career podium in DH. … Her sixth in DH this season in eight chances. … She wins the DH title with the placing, her fifth in the discipline, having also been champion in 1997, '99, 2004 and '05.  … It is her second World Cup title of the season, having previous been assured her third SG crown.
    It is the fourth career World Cup podium for Emily Brydon. … All of them third-place finishes. … It is her second in DH, the first coming at St. Moritz Dec. 16, 2000. … It is her best finish of the season, eclipsing an eighth in SG at Lake Louise Dec. 3. … It is the 10th Cup podium result of the season for Canada.
    Kelley VanderBeek matches her third best career placing in fifth. … It is her career-best placing in DH, the other better marks coming in SG. … It is her third top five of the season, having also been fifth at San Sicario and third at Lake Louise (SGs). … The Canadian men had two in the top five a week ago at Garmisch in DH (Erik Guay 1, Jan Hudec 5). … It is the 28th career top eight for Kirsten Clark. … It is her top result of the season, eclipsing a 13th from Val d'Isere Dec. 20. … It is the 19th time this season the U.S. team has placed at least two in the top 10 of a World Cup race. … It is the eighth career top 10 for Britt Janyk. … The fourth of the season. … The Canadian men also had three skiers in the top 10 at Garmisch (DH) Feb. 24.
    Stacey Cook matches her fourth-best career result and second-best of the season. … The better placing was fourth, Lake Louise DH Dec. 1. … She was also 15th at Zauchensee DH Jan. 13. … It is the sixth career scoring result from Shona Rubens. … Fourth this season. … It is her second 23rd-place finish in two days. … Libby Ludlow and Resi Stiegler finish 31st and 32nd respectively, just missing scores.
    Goetschl ices the DH title, holding a 605-491 edge over Mancuso with one race remaining. … Lindsey Kildow (did not race) is third on the list at 390. … Marlies Schild (seventh in race) maintains the lead in the overall standings 1148-1139 over Mancuso. … Nicole Hosp (17th in race) is third at 1103 and Goetschl fourth at 1099. … Seven races remain on the women's schedule. … Winning margin is .17 of a second. … Top 10 finishers are within a second. … Top 22 within two seconds.

Tarvisio women's World Cup downhill results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  29  537545 MANCUSO Julia  1984  USA   1:52.67  0.00
 2  30  55069 GOETSCHL Renate  1975  AUT   1:52.84  2.04
 3  11  105997 BRYDON Emily  1980  CAN   1:52.88  2.52
 4  19  55576 GOERGL Elisabeth  1981  AUT   1:52.99  3.83
 5  21  106402 VANDERBEEK Kelly  1983  CAN   1:53.00  3.95
 6  27  515170 STYGER Nadia  1978  SUI   1:53.17  5.99
 7  15  55590 SCHILD M
arlies
 
1981  AUT   1:53.19  6.23
 8  12  536138 CLARK Kirsten L  1977  USA   1:53.35  8.15
 9  3  225206 ALCOTT Chemmy  1982  GBR   1:53.58  10.90
 10  5  106022 JANYK Britt  1980  CAN   1:53.64  11.62
 11  26  195671 JACQUEMOD Ingrid  1978  FRA   1:53.71  12.46
 12  16  515348 BORGHI Catherine  1976  SUI   1:53.79  13.42
 13  18  196460 MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie  1985  FRA   1:53.85  14.14
 13  1  495318 RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina  1981  SPA   1:53.85  14.14
 15  9  537582 COOK Stacey J  1984  USA   1:53.90  14.74
 16  20  55750 FISCHBACHER Andrea  1985  AUT   1:54.00  15.94
 17  17  55690 HOSP Nicole  1983  AUT   1:54.22  18.57
 18  13  55669 HOLAUS Maria  1983  AUT   1:54.23  18.69
 19  23  206001 RIESCH Maria  1984  GER   1:54.38  20.49
 20  25  515409 BERTHOD Sylviane  1977  SUI   1:54.39  20.61
 21  22  515573 AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi  1981  SUI   1:54.46  21.45
 22  34  206175 STECHERT Gina  1987  GER   1:54.54  22.41
 23  39  106666 RUBENS Shona  1986  CAN   1:54.75  24.92
 24  43  375018 COLETTI Alexandra  1983  MON   1:55.09  29.00
 25  6  296472 FANCHINI Elena  1985  ITA   1:55.12  29.36
 25  4  515560 SCHILD Martina  1981  SUI   1:55.12  29.36
 27  10  515429 DUMERMUTH Monika  1977  SUI   1:55.14  29.60
 27  7  295533 RECCHIA Lucia  1980  ITA   1:55.14  29.60
 29  33  196573 REVILLET Aurelie  1986  FRA   1:55.21  30.43
 30  35  55596 WILHELM Kathrin  1981  AUT   1:55.27  31.15
 31  46  536884 LUDLOW Libby  1981  USA   1:55.48  33.67
 32  41  537772 STIEGLER Resi  1985  USA   1:55.52  34.15
 33  24  55212 MEISSNITZER Alexandra  1973  AUT   1:55.62  35.35
 34  37  296623 MAZZOTTI Lucia  1985  ITA   1:55.94  39.18
 35  31  295136 CECCARELLI Daniela  1975  ITA   1:56.07  40.74
 36  49  255098 KRISTJANSDOTTIR Dagny L.  1980  ISL   1:56.19  42.18
 37  40  106849 YURKIW Larisa  1988  CAN   1:56.20  42.30
 38  42  565278 RABIC Urska  1985  SLO   1:56.47  45.53
 39  47  296427 SCHNARF Johanna  1984  ITA   1:56.54  46.37
 40  45  296242 GRUENER Angelika  1983  ITA   1:56.84  49.96
 41  36  296473 SIORPAES Wendy  1985  ITA   1:56.95  51.28
 42  38  106465 LAWRENCE Sherry  1984  CAN   1:57.03  52.24
 43  48  565261 ROBNIK Petra  1984  SLO   1:57.33  55.84
 44  44  55691 SPONRING Christine  1983  AUT   1:58.08  64.82

Did not start 1st run:
GARDET Charlene (FRA), LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica (SWE)

Did not finish 1st run:
PAERSON Anja (SWE), MERIGHETTI Daniela (ITA), BENT Nike (SWE), WOLF Tamara (SUI)

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