Julia Mancuso
Julia Mancuso
Julia Marie Mancusois an American World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. She won the 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 medalsat the World Championships and seven races in regular World Cup competition. Her four Olympic medals are the most ever for a female American alpine skier...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSkier
Date of Birth9 March 1984
CityReno, NV
CountryUnited States of America
We like to be fun, we like to keep it light. It was more like a fun thing than a ritual.
For me, it makes me focus on each race singularly. It's not so much tactics. You just have to go out there and have your best slalom race, because that's the only place you can win or lose the combined. It's hard to take risks in the downhill.
It's really inspiring to see somebody go down so hard and come back and compete -- and do such a good job.
I've got a little bit of Italian in my heart.
The best part about Maui is that I can spend a lot of time outside. My off-season is April, May, and June.
They are not convinced I'm American; they think I'm Italian.
What has helped me prevent injuries is being connected and having my body aligned. Every morning, I roll out and then work on my core and my balance.
We're just used to it. Every race, there's always some stuff that happens, whether it's a teammate or not. You sort of have to refocus at the start and go.
We always are training in bad weather and I grew up skiing in powder.
I was coming here with hopes for a podium and maybe a win.
I was a little bit surprised at the finish. It was a slow feeling, but I guess everyone felt that way.
Just another day on a stormy race course. That sort of helped me take the pressure.
Going into the second run, I just had to remember it was about skiing, it wasn't about winning or about what place I was in. Once I kicked out of the start gate, I just tried to go my fastest.
For me, personally, getting a podium is not as important as feeling super comfortable on my skiing.