“A big dream came true,” said Goergl of her first
win of the season.
The only racer to challenge Goergl’s time of one
minute, 23.82 seconds came five racers and
five hundredths of a second later as American
Julia Mancuso built speed all the way down the
course. The American title ace (with three Olym-
pic medals and now four World Championship
medallions) displayed magnificent control over a
difficult, dappled and icy Kandahar course.
“I didn’t start off the greatest, but as I started to
pick up momentum down the course I started to
get a good feeling and started to ski better and
better,” said Mancuso, who won a Worlds super
G bronze medal in 2005. “I’m still chasing the
win. I’ll just remember that I need those five hun-
dredths. You have to have everything here.”
German fans got to clang their cowbells and blow
their horns as World Cup overall leader Maria Ri-
esch ran right after Goergl, earning the bronze
medal (0.21 back) as she reached what she called
her “minimum goal,” with a single medal. “I’m defi-
nitely really happy to win the medal here at the
first event, it takes a lot of pressure off of me,” she
said. “Now I can enjoy it even more.”
It was an emotional day for Goergl, the daugh-
ter of double Olympic medalist Traudl Hecher.
She openly wept as yet another meaningful song
— the Austrian national anthem — played during
the awards ceremony. But minutes later, at the
press conference, you would have thought Go-
ergl had just been enjoying a day at the spa as
she appeared at total peace while calmly answer-
ing questions. “It took a lot of effort for me [to get
here], big fights, also fights with myself; I think
I’m tired of fighting now,” she said with a satisfied
smile.
On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum
Julia Mancuso now has
four FIS medallions.
Elisabeth Goergl goes
for the gold on Feb. 8.
