MANCUSO SAVES WOMEN'S TEAM GIANT SLALOM WIN PREVENTS SHUTOUT.Byline: Steve Dilbeck Staff Writer SESTRIERE, Italy - Shut out, looking completely grim, the women's U.S. Ski team was facing a bitter end bitter end n. 1. A final, painful, or disastrous extremity. 2. Nautical The inboard end of a chain, rope, or cable, especially the end of a rope or cable that is wound around a bitt. to their 2006 Winter Olympics. And then came Julia Mancuso. Mancuso, who never has won a World Cup event, stunned the giant slalom giant slalom n. A downhill skiing race in which participants must pass between pairs of gates set along a course that is larger and often steeper than a slalom course. field Friday, navigating through snow and fog that took her back to her home in Squaw Valley Squaw Valley, valley, NE Calif., in the Sierra Nevada Mts., NW of Lake Tahoe. A well-known ski and winter recreational resort, it was the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. Ski lifts and trails are on Squaw Peak (8,960 ft/2,731 m high). , to capture Olympic gold Olympic Gold is the official video game of the XXV Olympic Summer Games, hosted by Barcelona, Spain in 1992. It was released for the Sega consoles, Mega Drive/Genesis and Master System, and Sega's handheld, Game Gear. . The alpine team has been the one great disappointment to the U.S. at the Turin Games. Ted Ligety's equaling stunning victory in the men's combined had been America's only previous medal. But the 21-year-old Mancuso lit up the mountain with her pair of runs, jumping out to the lead after the first and closing it out with a gold-clinching second. ``I'm used to going as fast as I can down the hill in blizzards or powder or when I can't see anything,'' Mancuso said. ``I just know were my feet are and know how to react when conditions get tough.'' Mancuso provided the women's team its first gold medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize since Picabo Street Picabo Street (born April 3, 1971, in Triumph, Idaho) is an American skier, now retired and living in Park City, Utah. She was raised on a small farm in Triumph, several miles southeast of Sun Valley, Idaho, where she learned to ski and race. won gold in the super-G at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games
``Julia did a great job,'' said Jesse Hunt, the U.S. alpine ski Alpine Ski is an Alpine skiing arcade game, released by Taito in 1981. Description The player controls a skier, who can move left, right, or increase forward speed. director. ``They weren't easy conditions because of the hill and poor visibility. It was a tough race. Julia stayed cool and was focused on the race.'' Mancuso's combined time was 2:09.19 - .67 ahead of silver medalist Tanja Poutiainen Tanja Poutiainen (born 6 April 1980 in Rovaniemi) is a Finnish alpine skier who won the silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics women's giant slalom race. In, 1997 Poutiainen became junior world champion in the slalom as well being listed 3rd in the Super-G, and the same of Finland. Sweden's Anna Ottosson took the bronze, 1.14 back. Several women struggled with the weather conditions. Of the 65 entered in the event, 12 failed to finish a run. Croatia's Janica Kostelic, the defending Olympic champion, was ill and as expected did not race. She ended her Olympics with a gold and silver. She has won six Olympic medals overall, four gold, most for a woman alpine skier. America's Lindsey Kildow, still recovering from a horrific fall, also chose not to race in what is not her best event. Mancuso has a pair of bronze finishes on the World Cup circuit, but never before won gold or even led the field after the first run. ``After the first run, I was really excited to be in the lead,'' she said. ``I had a really great GS race in Ofterschwang (Germany) before this race. Even though I was third place I was only nine-hundredths back. ``So I definitely came in here with hopes of being on the podium and possibly win.'' The top 30 finishers in the first run race in reverse order for the second. That left Mancuso last of the medal contenders to ski. ``On the second run, I was aware people were having problems, some of the best girls were actually slower,'' she said. ``Anja (Paerson) was only .18 behind me (after the first run), so I really had to put down a run to make it happen. ``I played it safe and took risks were I could.'' Mancuso went 1:08.30 on her second run, surpassed only by Ottosson and then by just .01. She had her gold. ``Tonight,'' Mancuso said, ``big party.'' Paerson, already the winner of three medals here and the giant slalom favorite, could have equaled Kostelic's medal record but skated poorly on her second run. ``I'm happy," Paerson said. ``This has been a good Olympics. It was always a tough fight with the snow. I really wanted a medal today, but you can't have it all.'' Steve Dilbeck, (818) 713-3607 stephen.dilbeck(at)dailynews.com |
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