Downhill Medals Narrowly Elude USA

SCHLADMING, Austria (Feb. 10) - The USA narrowly missed the medals Sunday in the women's downhill at the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships. Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, CA) was a .15 out of the prizes in fifth with Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA) sixth. In an aggressive race that saw higher speeds than training, the twisty turny Schladming S turn midway down the course took its toll on the USA as France's Marion Rolland took the surprise gold. NBC will broadcast coverage at 3:00 p.m. EST with Universal Sports Network at 4:00 p.m. Men's super combined is up on Monday with Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) among the favorites.

HIGHLIGHTS

Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, CA) led the U.S. Ski Team finishing fifth in the women's downhill at the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships in Schladming. Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA) was right behind finishing sixth.
Both Mancuso and Cook were dominating their runs up to the midway point where a series of turns through the Schladming S took their toll.
Leanne Smith (N. Conway, NH) was 12th with Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO) 17th.
The women's Audi FIS Alpine World Cup speed season returns Feb. 22 with a downhill in Meribel, France. Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) leads the downhill standings with Cook second, McKennis fourth and Smith sixth.
Over 25,000 fans were on hand for the downhill.
NBC Sports will provide same day coverage at 3:00 p.m. EST with Universal Sports at 4:00 p.m.
Men's super combined is up Monday with Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) among favorites.

QUOTES
Julia Mancuso
It was really difficult with fast snow. You had to be 100% on it to do well. It was bumpy and fast but it was a lot of fun. It was hard to feel perfect, you just had to charge hard. It was close to being on the podium. I felt pretty solid on the course - didn't feel like I would crash. When you're at World Championships you're charging hard.

Stacey Cook
I don't know where I lost it - I'm a little frustrated right now. I want to talk to my coaches to find out where all that time went.

Part of having a fast training run yesterday was realizing it was about the skiing and not about the result or the pressure. I kept the same attitude coming into today and didn't let it effect me. I know the speed is there, but it took an absolute perfect run to be on the podium today.

Leanne Smith
It was definitely faster today than yesterday. You had to stay ahead of it or it was going to rattle you. it takes a lot of power and commitment from you to drive through the boot and stay strong on your outside ski.

Alice McKennis
I just wasn't aggressive enough - I was passive and not driving forward on the front of the boots. Speeds were up today - it was faster and a little more rattly.

Chip White, Speed Head Coach

This team is always striving for podiums right now. The girls are disappointed. I personally am very proud of them for the job they've done to get to this point and they still are the best downhill team in the world. All the cards didn't fall the way we wanted them to. I'm proud of every single one of these ladies - they're strong, they're fit, they're competitive, we're still contenders for a globe in downhill and we have a lot of season left.

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