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Mancuso stays in contention for title after finishing fifth

The Olympic gold medalist Julia Mancuso of the US remains within striking distance of ski racing's most coveted trophy after finishing fifth in a World Cup giant slalom on Saturday, eight days before the annual circuit comes to a close.

With five races left on the World Cup calendar, Mancuso is second in the overall standings behind Nicole Hosp of Austria, who was second in Saturday's race in Zwiesel, Germany.

Mancuso and Hosp are the most consistent and versatile of the four women still in mathematical contention for the overall World Cup title, which no US woman has won since 1983.

"I'm excited," Mancuso said in a telephone interview after Saturday's race. "There's lots of great races to come. I'm definitely looking forward to putting down two good runs Monday."

After competing in yesterday's slalom, Mancuso said, she would jump in her sports car for the nearly 480km drive to Lenzerheide, Switzerland, where she plans to participate in a training run today on the downhill course for the final World Cup event.

Such is the endurance and adaptability required to win the overall title. The sport's various events each demand different skills, equipment and muscles. The few skiers who chase the overall title rarely have the time or the energy to train.

In the circuit's 40-year history, the only US woman to win the overall title is Tamara McKinney, who won it in 1983, the same year that Phil Mahre won the title on the men's circuit.

Bode Miller won the overall title in 2005 but ceded it last year to Austria's Benjamin Raich, who currently leads the men's standings.

The World Cup is scored as racers win points for each race -- 100 points for a victory, 80 for second-place, 60 for third, and so on down to the 30th-place finisher, who receives 1 point.

Hosp has 1,263 points to Mancuso's 1,244. Close behind are two more Austrians, Marlies Schild (1,202 points) and Renate Goetschl (1,200 points).

Goetschl, 31, who does not ski the slalom event, won the overall title in 2000. Schild, 25, is by far the World Cup's best slalom skier, but she is not nearly as strong as the others in the speed events.

The World Cup finals begin on Wednesday in Lenzerheide with men's and women's downhills and end on March 18 with men's slalom and women's giant slalom. The overall trophies, which are crystal globes weighing 9kg, will also be awarded there.

Should Mancuso take the big crystal globe home, she will have to be careful. When Miller flew home with his in 2005, he was told to check his trophy along with his luggage, and when he arrived in his native New Hampshire, he found it shattered into little pieces.
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