Julia Mancuso

Julia Marie Mancuso (born March 9, 1984) is an American retired World Cup alpine ski racer. She won the gold medal in giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and was the silver medalist in both downhill and combined in 2010, and the bronze medalist in the combined in 2014. She has also won five medals (two silver and three bronze) at the World Championships and seven races in regular World Cup competition. Mancuso's four Olympic medals are tied for the most ever for a female American alpine skier with Mikaela Shiffrin.

Racing career Mancuso made her World Cup debut at the age of 15 at Copper Mountain, Colorado, on November 20, 1999. She was scouted by Patrick Rooney. Mancuso scored her first World Cup points (top-30 finish) during the 2001 season. While Mancuso often struggled in World Cup races over the next few seasons, she enjoyed exceptional success at the Junior World Championships, winning a record eight medals, including five golds in 2002, 2003 and 2004. She was selected for the 2002 Winter Olympics at the age of 17, where she finished 13th in the combined event.

Mancuso's World Cup results improved dramatically during the 2005 season, as she climbed to ninth place overall from 55th place in 2004. At the 2005 World Championships, she won bronze medals in both the super-G and the giant slalom competitions. She took her first World Cup podium by finishing second in a super-G in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 2006. Her gold medal at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics was unexpected, as she had just three podiums (finishing events in the top three) that season, though all were within weeks of the Olympics. Only one of those podiums was in giant slalom, a third place in the final GS race before the Olympics.

Mancuso won the race despite ongoing pain in her right knee, which was finally traced to hip dysplasia. She would finish the 2006 season in eighth place, including podium finishes in three races, although she could sometimes barely walk by season's end.

At the start of the off-season, Mancuso endured arthroscopic surgery on her right hip to remove an inch-long bone spur on the ball of the joint. The very next day, she won another silver in the women's super combined, an event that incorporates both a downhill and a slalom run. However, while Mancuso was trying to defend her title in giant slalom, Lindsey Vonn crashed after Mancuso, the next skier, had started, forcing Mancuso's run to be stopped just before she reached Vonn's crash. Forced to restart from the back of the pack, Mancuso only managed an 18th-place first run, and her strong second run only brought her up to eighth overall. Her Olympic performances did however lead to a revival in form, as she took 16 World Cup podium finishes and two more World Championship medals over the next four years.

Over the three seasons through 2013, Mancuso was on the World Cup podium in at least 10 races, placing well in the season standings in varied events. But she finished in the top 15 in only one of the several late-2013 events that launched the 2014 season, and decided to take a break from the World Cup circuit to refresh for the 2014 Olympics. Mancuso's strategy worked, as she won her fourth Olympic medal, a bronze, in the women's super combined at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, after placing first in the downhill section.

World Cup results

Season standings Season Age Overall Slalom Giant slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 2001 16 113 55 — 47 — — 2002 17 73 — — 37 33 17 2003 18 46 44 — 25 27 5 2004 19 55 32 58 27 42 — 2005 20 9 26 7 13 10 6 2006 21 8 22 11 6 11 8 2007 22 3 24 4 4 2 2 2008 23 7 28 5 8 7 6 2009 24 27 42 17 27 24 36 2010 25 20 — 28 16 9 22 2011 26 5 51 9 3 3 8 2012 27 4 50 9 2 5 22 2013 28 4 33 11 2 9 6 2014 29 22 — 30 14 16 — 2015 30 21 — 39 11 13 12 2016 31 hip surgery, out for these 2 seasons 2017 32 2018 33 — — — — — — Source:

Race podiums 7 wins – (3 DH, 2 SG, 1 SC, 1 CE) 36 podiums – (12 DH, 15 SG, 5 GS, 3 SC, 1 CE)

World Championship results Year Age Slalom Giant slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 2003 18 DNF1 — 21 — 7 2005 20 8 3 3 — 9 2007 22 — 5 6 10 2 2009 24 — 18 DNF — DNF1 2011 26 DNF1 16 2 6 7 2013 28 — 22 3 5 8 2015 30 — — 9 16 15

Olympic results Year Age Slalom Giant slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 2002 17 — — — — 13 2006 21 — 1 11 7 9 2010 25 — 8 9 2 2 2014 29 — DNF1 8 8 3

Lifestyle and endorsements

Mancuso's nickname among her U.S. Ski Team teammates and fans is "Super Jules". Following her Olympic gold medal in 2006, a ski run formerly called "Exhibition" at Squaw Valley Ski Resort was renamed "Julia's Gold". Mancuso also models lingerie and has been memorably quoted as saying, "I think underwear is my calling. You can be feminine and fast."

In December 2006, Lange ski boots announced that Mancuso would be the first-ever "Lange Girl Athlete", and be the subject of posters, images, and an "ongoing effort to showcase exceptional women ski athletes who are also attractive and inspiring". She switched to Völkl skis and Marker bindings following the 2010 season; she was previously with Rossignol. Mancuso changed equipment suppliers after the 2012 season and now uses Head skis, boots, and bindings.

During the 2010 Winter Olympics, VISA featured Mancuso in an animated story describing how as a child she had drawn a picture of herself as a gold medalist, and closing with a photograph of her after winning the gold medal in 2006. She also starred in a commercial for 24 Hour Fitness called 'Reach Your Potential', directed by Brent Roske. In 2012, Mancuso appeared in the GoPro Hero3 video promotion.

Personal life Of Italian descent, Mancuso was born in Reno, Nevada, and grew up in the nearby Lake Tahoe area as the middle of three sisters, between older sister April and younger sister Sara. Her father, Ciro Mancuso, was arrested at the family home when Julia was five years old, and was later convicted of running a $140 million marijuana smuggling operation. Her parents divorced in 1992, and her mother Andrea (née Tuffanelli) said that Julia "took everything out on the slopes."