Mancuso Adds Another Silver; Vonn Misses Gate

Olympics Mancuso gets silver; Vonn misses gatePosted by Ralph Routon

Lindsey Vonn finally ran into misfortune Thursday afternoon at the Winter Olympics, but that didn’t stop her teammate Julia Mancuso from making some history in the ladies super combined Alpine ski event.

Vonn, who had led the field after the initial run this morning, missed a gate midway through her slalom run and didn’t finish, a day after the Vail resident’s dramatic gold medal in the downhill.

But Mancuso made it to the bottom of both runs and came away with another silver medal, finishing second behind Maria Riesch of Germany. Riesch, a superb technical skier, dominated the slalom and wound up with a total time of 2:09.14, well ahead of Mancuso’s 2:10.08. The bronze went to Sweden’s Anja Paerson, who came back from a nasty crash just short of the finish line in the Wednesday downhill to post a 2:10.95.

Mancuso becomes the first U.S. woman to have three Olympic medals (she won gold in the 2006 giant slalom), and she’s the first American to medal in the women’s combined since 1948.

Vonn and Mancuso will be back on the mountain Saturday for the women’s super-G race.