Julia Mancuso is a 29-year-old is a World Cup alpine ski racer from Reno, Nevada. Mancuso was the gold medalist in the giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and the silver medalist in both downhill and combined at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Her three Olympic medals are the most ever for a female American alpine skier.
Julia Mancuso made her World Cup debut at Copper Mountain at the age of 15. While she 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.
Following the 2008 season, Julia Mancuso did not achieve a top-three finish in World Cup events for nearly two years due to back problems, so her silver medal in the women’s downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics was another surprise.
The very next day, she won another silver in the Women’s Super Combined. However, while Julia Mancuso was trying to defend her title in giant slalom, Lindsey Vonn crashed after Julia 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, Julia Mancuso only managed an 18th-place first run, and her strong second run only brought her up to eighth overall.
Over the three seasons through 2013, Julia 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
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