FREE SPIRIT
Julia Mancuso is really good at winning. but it’s not about winning.
28
When Julia Mancuso reaches the biggest stage, she tends to deliver. She has more major championship medals — three Olympic and five World Championship — than any other female American skier. For someone with such a track record of success, you might think she would be focused purely on winning. Not exactly. She takes a point of view that originates from her laid-back, mountaintown upbringing in Squaw Valley, Calif. “It’s not even about winning every race,” said Mancuso, 29. “It’s about winning your race, which is doing the best you can. For me, I take one turn at a time. It’s between me and the mountain, and I want to make my peace on that run.” Mancuso is feeling more and more at peace with her results. She finished second in the super-G standings last year, and fourth in the overall. Following years of back problems, she is injury free. And after 13 years on the World Cup circuit, she’s becoming more at ease with the demands of months-long travel. (You don’t need 10 pairs of shoes, she realized.) This summer in Hawaii, where she spends much of her off-season, she picked up free-diving, which she says has helped her focus and lung capacity. “Training is about having fun,” she said. When Julia was a pre-teen, her mom, Andrea Webber, would bring the kids to Vail to train early season. Around that time, Andrea realized that Julia was a special athlete. “Really at about 11 and 12 years old, in ski racing, she would beat all the boys,” said Webber, who, with her husband Scott, owns Fuller Sotheby’s International Realty, which has offices in Beaver Creek. Sochi will be Mancuso’s fourth Olympic Games. She’ll be aiming to add to her career medal haul — a gold in Torino and two silvers in Vancouver. “I’m prepared and ready to kick ass when the Olympics come around,” Mancuso said. — ED STONER