SOCHI, Russia — Three-time Olympic medalist Julia Mancuso doesn't give herself much chance in Monday's super-combined event at Rosa Khutor.
It's the first women's Olympic Alpine event and, with U.S. star Lindsey Vonn out because of a knee injury, a lot is expected from Mancuso.
Mancuso is feeling creaky, though, and doesn't know if her body can hold up for three races in one day. She'll be more of a threat in the speedier downhill Wednesday and super-giant slalom Saturday.
Chris Dufresne
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The super combined includes a morning downhill and two afternoon runs of slalom.
Slalom gets more difficult the older you get, and Mancuso is 29.
She doesn't race the event anymore on the World Cup circuit.
"Slalom is kind of like a game of luck," Mancuso said this week. "Roll the dice and it's on, roll the dice and it's off."
Of course, Mancuso said much the same thing four years ago in Vancouver.
She didn't like her chances in the combined then, either, and won the silver medal.
The one thing you can't deny about Mancuso is her ability to perform on the big stage.
She doesn't do much between Olympics and world championship events.
The gap between her and Vonn in World Cup wins is 59 to seven. Vonn's sustained dominance has made her, inarguably, the greatest female racer in U.S. history. And Vonn needs only four more World Cup wins to pass Austria's Annemarie Moser-Proell on the women's all-time victory list.
The Olympics, though, are a different nut. Mancuso has more Alpine medals than Vonn, three to two. That makes Mancuso the all-time Alpine leader among American women.
Mancuso won her gold medal first, in Turin, four years before Vonn won in Vancouver.
Mancuso can only guess why she hasn't had more sustained success.
As a kid growing up in Squaw Valley, Calif., she didn't pay attention to the international ski circuit. She dreamed only of winning the Winter Olympics, which were held at Squaw Valley in 1960.
"I knew the World Cup existed," she said, "but I didn't know we had such a big tour and that would be my life, I guess."
The ski tour is a mental grind and requires sustained focus.
"She's sort of going through the motions in the season," Picabo Street, the 1998 Olympic super-G champion, said this week of Mancuso. "But she is so prepared to be here. Now, it's like she said. It's between her ears."
Mancuso has been compared to Vonn since they were teen-star racers. Mancuso, like Vonn, has model looks and star power. Everyone knows Vonn is dating Tiger Woods, but Mancuso once had a relationship with Norway skiing star Aksel Lund Svindal.
