TARVISIO, Italy (AP) – Californian Julia Mancuso seems to do her best skiing in the Italian Alps.

The resident of Squaw Valley, Calif., won a downhill here Saturday for her fourth victory this season and moved within nine points of Austrian Marlies Schild atop the World Cup overall standings.

An American woman hasn’t won the overall title since another Squaw Valley resident – Tamara McKinney – won it in 1983.

“I’m psyched. I just started winning races this year, so it’s awesome,” Mancuso said. “I always have good races in Italy.”

Mancuso won the giant slalom at last year’s Turin Olympics, and won a super-giant slalom race in January in Cortina. She was second in a super-combi Friday in Tarvisio. And her Italian success also includes a win in the downhill at the 2002 junior world championships in Tarvisio.

Mancuso can move ahead of Schild in Sunday’s super-G. After that, there are two more World Cup stops this season – in Zwiesel, Germany, next weekend and at the finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

, the following week.

Mancuso skied the 1.9-mile Prampero course – one of the longest and most narrow on the women’s circuit – in 1 minute, 52.67 seconds. Renate Goetschl of Austria was second, 0.17 behind, and clinched the season downhill title. Emily Brydon of Canada was third, 0.21 back.

Another American, Kirsten Clark, finished eighth for her best result this season.

Goetschl clinched the season’s downhill title with one race to spare. She has 605 points, while Mancuso is second with 491. Wins are worth 100 points each, so Goetschl has an insurmountable lead.

It’s the fifth downhill title of Goetschl’s career, matching fellow Austrian Franz Klammer for the record.

“Franz Klammer is a legend and I also know him,” Goetschl said. “Whenever you hear the name Franz Klammer, you think ‘downhill,’ and I’ve always thought downhill, also.”

Goetschl, who skied in pain Saturday after injuring both knees in a training fall this week, added that she will extend her career at least one more season to try to break the record she now shares with Klammer.

“She felt pain, but she knew she needed a result right behind Mancuso to win the cup,” said Austrian Alpine director Hans Pum. “You could see it in her eyes how focused she was.

“She’s the speed queen,” Pum said. “I think she’s the greatest now.”

Schild finished seventh and barely retained her overall lead with 1,148 points, while Mancuso moved up to second with 1,139. Nicole Hosp dropped to third with 1,103 after finishing 17th, Goetschl is fourth with 1,099.

In Austria, skiing is the national sport, and winning the overall title is “bigger than the Super Bowl,” said U.S. speed coach Alex Hoedlmoser, who is Austrian.

“In the U.S., everyone just looks at the Olympics. But at the Olympics sometimes you just have luck with conditions or whatever. It’s just that day. To be consistent over the whole season means a lot more in the skiing world,” Hoedlmoser said.

“It’s not just winning one game. Everyone can win just one game, but to win the whole season, that’s different.”

Mancuso placed second in Friday’s super-combi behind Hosp and had a U.S.-record streak of five straigth top-three finishes in January. She won silver in combined at the world championships in Are, Sweden, last month. Mancuso left the worlds early to return home to California to rest up for the remainder of the World Cup season.

“She knows that this is a big thing,” Hoedlmoser said. “To have that overall globe, it’s the biggest thing you can get in ski racing.”

The closest any American has come to winning the overall title since McKinney was in 1995, when Picabo Street finished fifth.

“I hope she does it. The Austrians win so much,” said Anders Paerson, the father and coach of two-time overall champion Anja Paerson of Sweden. “It’s going to be tough, but it’s going to be interesting. I think Schild is more (nervous) already. I think Julia is more relaxed and has a better chance.”

Swiss skier Tamara Wolf, the second racer out of the starting gate Saturday, had a scary crash and was airlifted to a local hospital. The race was halted for 25 minutes.

Mancuso watched Wolf’s crash on TV and did some free skiing before her run to clear her mind.

“It was so bad, but it always looks worse on TV,” Mancuso said. “You can’t think about it. It’s skiing, and life. Unlucky things happen.”