By USSA

MOSCOW – Julia Mancuso of Squaw Valley ripped through the head-to-head style parallel slalom to win under the lights for her second Audi FIS Alpine World Cup win this season.

“Events like this are really exciting, anything can happen. You’re bummed out if you lose and when you win, it’s a big surprise,” Mancuso said. “I knew that if you can have a good start, you can make up any amount of time, so I really focused on my start.”

Teammate Lindsey Vonn of Vail tacked another 60 points to her immense overall World Cup lead with third on the 170 foot tall ramp built in Luznhiki Olympic Complex as thousands of fans braved the fridgid Moscow tempuratures. The event, presented by Soelden, the official European Training base of the U.S. Ski Team, capped a brilliant showcase of alpine skiing in Russia, host country for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Each match featured two runs with the fastest racer from the first earning a time advantage on the second.

Mancuso knocked out Vonn in the semifinal and Austrian Mikaela Kirchgasser in the final to win.

Vonn was down 0.30 to Riesch after the first run of the small final, but won the second run.

Frenchman Alexis Pinterault won the men’s event as Ted Ligety of Park City was knocked out in the first round.

The women’s World Cup moves to Bansko, Bulgaria, while the men race in Crans Montana, Switzerland.