Mancuso wins GS gold

ByEurosport

Published 24/02/2006 at 12:42 GMT

Julia Mancuso rescued the USA's Alpine skiing Olympic campaign on Friday with an unexpected win in the women's giant slalom. Fastest after the first run, Mancuso held her nerve in heavy snow and flat light to edge Finland's Tanja Poutiainen by 0.67 second

ALPINE SKIING 2005-2006 Torino 2006 Giant Slalom Women Julia Mancuso

Image credit: Reuters

Following disappointing campaigns from US medal hopefuls Daron Rahlves, Bode Miller and Lindsey Kildow, the only gold medal - the only medal in fact - won by an ambitious American Alpine team had been Ted Ligety's unexpected storming of the men's combined event.

But 21-year-old Mancuso provided the silver lining to the Turin Games for Team USA with an expert gold medal as deserved as it was dynamic.

ALPINE SKIING 2005-2006 Torino 2006 Giant Slalom Women Julia Mancuso

Image credit: Reuters

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Leading Anja Paerson by a mere 0.18 seconds after the first run, Mancuso braved the adverse weather conditions to the first major race of her career.

"I didn't know when I woke up this morning that I would go to sleep as Olympic champion," Mancuso told reporters.

"I knew a lot of people were having problems but I just skied safe, I didn't take risks," she added.

With no World Cup scalps to her name, Mancuso had only two bronze medals - in super-G and giant slalom - from the 2005 World Championships to show for her fledgling talent.

ALPINE SKIING 2005-2006 Torino 2006 Giant Slalom Women Ottosson Poutiainen Mancuso

Image credit: Reuters

Now Olympic slalom champion, Mancuso has become the first American woman to win an Olympic giant slalom medal since Debbie Armstrong took the gold in the 1984 Sarajevo Games.

Finishing second on Friday was a beaming Tanja Poutiainen, the Finnish technical expert who has suffered a cataclysmic loss of form this season following her World Cup triumphs of 2004-05.

Poutiainen finished 0.67 seconds behind Mancuso's combined time of 2'09"19 after setting the third best time in the first run. She becomes Finland's first Alpine skiing medallist in history.

ALPINE SKIING 2005-2006 Torino 2006 Giant Slalom Women Tanja Poutiainen

Image credit: Reuters

"After all the bad luck I have had I wasn't expecting much from this season but this is a great way to have a good season," she said.

Taking the bronze was a Swede - not Anya Paerson, as everybody expected, but her veteran team-mate Anna Ottosson, who has not won a World Cup race for over six years.

The 29-year-old had only recorded the 13th best time - 1.15 seconds adrift - in the first run but used all her experience to rocket up the standings after the second run on the Colle piste at Sestrières.

"I can't believe it," she said, "this is a huge surprise. I didn't expect it at all, especially after the first run when I was way behind."

ALPINE SKIING 2005-2006 Torino 2006 Giant Slalom Women Anna Ottosson

Image credit: Reuters

Ottosson's addition, alongside Mancuso and Poutiainen, means that the giant slalom Olympic medallists, oddly enough, do not have a World Cup podium finish between them this season.

Paerson, the undisputed favourite following the withdrawal of defending champion Janica Kostelic due to illness and fatigue, had a torrid second run and could only manage sixth place, at 1.77 seconds.

After noching eleven Apline skiing Olympic medals so far in Turin, the Austrian team narrowly missed out on yet another accolade with Nicole Hosp finishing in fourth place, 0.33 behind Ottosson. Canada's Genevieve Simard took fifth, a further 0.07 seconds back.

The men's Alpine skiing schedule reaches its conclusion on Saturday with the slalom for which American's Ligety and Millar are amongst a cluster of favourites fronted by Italy's Giorgio Rocca.

Hosts Italy are still in seach of their first Alpine medal in the Turin Games after Nadia Fanchini could only manage eight in Friday's giant slalom.