Bad weather could be a good thing for U.S. skier Julia Mancuso

Reporting from Whistler, Canada — 

The weather report does not look promising -- snow, rain, slush, fog -- for the running of the women’s giant slalom Wednesday, leading some to muse: How could Julia Mancuso get so lucky?

She’s already had a charmed Olympics -- winning two unexpected silver medals -- and could now benefit from the kind of whiteout that helped her win the GS gold four years ago in Italy.

A lot of people don’t remember that Mancuso won at Turin because she captured it in almost Donner Party conditions.

“My mom was like, ‘I was so nervous, I couldn’t even see you on the big screen,’ ” Mancuso recalled.

She also received little gold-medal bounce because her event win came late in an Olympics that had already been dubbed a failure for the United States Alpine team.

“Everyone thought the ski racers [underachieved] because they were hoping so much on Bode [Miller],” Mancuso said. “So by the time I won a lot of people forgot even about the Olympics.”

From the finish area, you could barely see Mancuso’s blurry outline as she descended the snow-blinded slope in Italy on her way to victory over Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen.

Mancuso may catch another bad-weather break in Whistler.

“Ski racing is all about being prepared for anything,” Mancuso said.

America’s prospects for a GS medal do not appear strong. Veteran Sarah Schleper, at No. 19, is the highest-ranked American on the World Cup circuit -- with Mancuso and Lindsey Vonn tied at No. 28.

Vonn has won a gold and a bronze in Whistler but GS is the one discipline even she has never won. She has one top-10 finish this year, ninth place in Soelden, Austria.

Mancuso’s top GS finish this year is 13th, but she is riding a wave of momentum after winning silver in the downhill and super combined.

Mancuso, plagued by back injuries since Turin, has had a difficult time skiing on the rock-hard, injected courses in Europe. The snow in Whistler, though, reminds her of the softer stuff she grew up skiing in Squaw Valley, Calif.

The GS medal favorites are Kathrin Hoelzl (Germany) and Kathrin Zettel (Austria). Another contender will be Tina Maze of Slovenia, who won the silver in super-G on Saturday ahead of bronze-winner Vonn.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com