U.S. women dominate World Cup downhill

By USSA

SOCHI, Russia – U.S. women rewrote the record books Saturday as Lindsey Vonn of Vail finished third, Julia Mancuso of Squaw Valley sixth, Stacey Cook of Mammoth Mountain ninth and Alice McKennis of Glenwood Springs, Colo., 10th to place four American women in the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup downhill top 10 for the first time in history.

The record setting team performance, which included all Americans finishing in the top 30, happened at Rosa Khutor Resort – alpine host of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. The last time U.S. women place four in a World Cup top 10 was March 17, 1985, during a giant slalom in Waterville Valley, N.H.

“Any one of the girls on our team could have won this race. Our speed group is incredibly strong and we have been the past few years,” Vonn said. “It says a lot about how hard we work and how much we love ski racing.”

Mancuso said, “I like to dream big, ski fast and dream about all of those powder days at Squaw Valley that helped me to get to this place that I am now. Being a professtonal skier and being able to ski in the Olympics is a pretty big honor, so I’m hoping to be back here in 2014.”