Julia Mancuso facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Julia Mancuso

Alpine skier
Mancuso in December 2006
Disciplines	Downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, combined
Club	Squaw Valley Ski Team
Born	(1984-03-09) March 9, 1984 (age 41) Reno, Nevada, U.S.
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
World Cup debut	November 20, 1999 (age 15)
Retired	January 19, 2018 (age 33)
Website	juliamancuso.com
Olympics
Teams	4 – (2002–14)
Medals	4 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams	7 – (2003–15)
Medals	5 (0 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	14th – (2002–15)
Wins	7 – (3 DH, 2 SG, 1 SC, 1 CE)
Podiums	36
Overall titles	0 – (3rd in 2007)
Discipline titles	0 – (2nd in DH & K, 2007,     & SG, 2012, 2013)
Medal record Women's alpine skiing Representing the  United States International alpine ski competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 2 1 World Championships 0 2 3 Total 1 4 4 Olympic Games Gold 2006 Turin Giant slalom Silver 2010 Vancouver Downhill Silver 2010 Vancouver Combined Bronze 2014 Sochi Combined World Championships Silver 2007 Åre Combined Silver 2011 Garmisch Super-G Bronze 2005 Bormio Super-G Bronze 2005 Bormio Giant slalom Bronze 2013 Schladming Super-G Junior World Ski Championships Gold 2002 Tarvisio Downhill Gold 2002 Tarvisio Giant slalom Gold 2002 Tarvisio Combined Gold 2003 Puy St. Vincent Super-G Gold 2004 Maribor Combined Bronze 2001 Verbier Combined Bronze 2003 Puy St. Vincent Downhill Bronze 2004 Maribor Super-G

Julia Marie Mancuso (born March 9, 1984) is an American retired alpine ski racer. She is famous for winning many medals in big ski competitions. Julia won a gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in giant slalom. She also earned two silver medals at the 2010 Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2014 Olympics.

Julia Mancuso has won five medals at the World Championships. She also won seven races in the regular World Cup competitions. Her four Olympic medals are the most ever for an American female alpine skier.

Julia Mancuso's Ski Racing Career

Julia Mancuso started her World Cup career very young. She made her first appearance at age 15 in November 1999. She earned her first World Cup points in 2001. This means she finished among the top 30 skiers in a race.

Even though she sometimes struggled in World Cup races early on, Julia was amazing at the Junior World Championships. She won a record eight medals there, including five gold medals between 2002 and 2004. At just 17, she competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics. She finished 13th in the combined event.

Her World Cup results got much better in 2005. She moved up to ninth place overall from 55th the year before. At the 2005 World Championships, she won two bronze medals. These were in the super-G and giant slalom races. In 2006, she got her first World Cup podium (a top-three finish) in a super-G race.

Julia's gold medal at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics was a big surprise. She had only three podium finishes that season before the Olympics. One of these was a third place in the giant slalom just before the Games.

Julia won the Olympic gold medal even though she had pain in her right knee. Doctors later found out she had hip dysplasia. This is a problem with the hip joint. She finished the 2006 season in eighth place overall. She had three podium finishes, but sometimes she could barely walk because of the pain.

After the season, Julia had surgery on her hip to remove a small piece of bone. After resting for several months, she started training again with the U.S. team. By the start of the 2007 season, she was almost fully recovered.

Mancuso at Aspen in November 2006

Mancuso in December 2006

The 2007 season was a huge year for Julia Mancuso on the World Cup circuit. She won her first World Cup race on December 19, 2006, which was a downhill race in France. The next day, she took second place in another downhill. She went on to win three more races that season: a super-G, a super combined, and another downhill.

At the 2007 World Championships in Sweden, she won a silver medal in the super combined. She ended the season in third place overall in the World Cup. This was the best finish by an American woman since 1984. She also finished second in the downhill and combined standings for 2007.

After 2008, Julia didn't get a top-three finish in World Cup races for almost two years. This was because of 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 medal in the women's super combined. This event combines a downhill run and a slalom run.

Her Olympic success helped her get back in form. Over the next four years, she had 16 more World Cup podium finishes. She also won two more World Championship medals.

At the 2011 World Championships in Germany, she showed her strength again by winning a silver medal in the super-G. A month later, she won her first World Cup race in over four years. This was a downhill victory at the World Cup finals in Switzerland. After a terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan, she helped raise money. She gave half of her race earnings from the World Cup finals to a charity helping Japan.

From 2011 to 2013, Julia was on the World Cup podium in at least 10 races. She did well in many different events. But at the start of the 2014 season, she wasn't performing as well. She decided to take a break from the World Cup to get ready for the 2014 Olympics. This plan worked! She won her fourth Olympic medal, a bronze, in the women's super combined at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She was even first after the downhill part of the race.

During the 2014-15 season, Julia had her last World Cup podium finish. She came in third in a downhill race in Canada. Her teammates Lindsey Vonn and Stacey Cook finished first and second, making it an all-American podium. After this season, Julia had another hip surgery because of ongoing pain. Because of this, she missed the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.

Julia returned to competition in December 2017. She tried a World Cup super-G race but didn't finish. She raced two more times a week later but only managed a best finish of 42nd place. The next month, she announced she was retiring from skiing. Her last race was a downhill in Italy, where she had gotten her first World Cup podium. She wore a Wonder Woman outfit and a cape for her final run!

Julia Mancuso was known for being especially strong in major championships. She had 36 World Cup podium finishes in 398 races. But her nine Olympic and World Championship medals from 40 starts show she was a true champion when it mattered most.

World Cup Results

Season Standings

Source:

Race Podiums

• 7 wins – (3 DH, 2 SG, 1 SC, 1 CE)
• 36 podiums – (12 DH, 15 SG, 5 GS, 3 SC, 1 CE)

World Championship Results

Olympic Results

Life Outside of Skiing

Mancuso in January 2011

Julia Mancuso's teammates and fans call her "Super Jules." After she won her Olympic gold medal in 2006, a ski run at Squaw Valley Ski Resort was renamed "Julia's Gold."

Julia sometimes wore a plastic tiara over her helmet during races. Her coach gave it to her as a good-luck charm. She wore it after winning her silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics. In 2010, Julia even started her own clothing line called Kiss My Tiara. She once said, "I think underwear is my calling. You can be feminine and fast."

Julia has worked with several ski equipment companies. She was the first "Lange Girl Athlete" for Lange ski boots. She has also used Völkl skis, Marker bindings, and Head skis, boots, and bindings.

During the 2010 Winter Olympics, VISA showed Julia in a cartoon commercial. It told the story of how she drew a picture of herself as a gold medalist when she was a child. It ended with a photo of her after winning gold in 2006. She also appeared in a commercial for 24 Hour Fitness and a GoPro video.

Personal Life

Julia Mancuso was born in Reno, Nevada, and grew up near Lake Tahoe. She is the middle of three sisters. Her parents divorced in 1992. Her mother, Andrea, said that Julia "took everything out on the slopes," meaning skiing helped her deal with challenges.

Julia graduated from The Winter Sports School in Park City, Utah, in 2000. She lives in Olympic Valley, California.

She dated Norwegian alpine skier Aksel Lund Svindal for four years. They broke up in 2013. Later, Julia married surfer Dylan Fish. In July 2019, they welcomed their son, Sonny Fish Mancuso.

In her free time, Julia enjoys other sports like surfing and freeride skiing. In 2016, she was in a movie called "Shades of Winter. Between," which featured other extreme sport athletes.

Julia is an important person in the Lake Tahoe area. She helps young racers by selling and giving them her old racing suits.

See also

In Spanish: Julia Mancuso para niños