Julia Mancuso won her first career World Cup race Tuesday as American skiers took two of the top three places in a women's downhill in Val d'Isere, France.

Mancuso, the Olympic giant slalom champion, completed the 2.5-kilometre course in one minute, 38.93 seconds.

Julia Mancuso of the U.S. celebrates in the finish area after winning Tuesday's World Cup downhill in Val d'Isere, France.
(Thomas Coex/Getty Images)

"To win my first World Cup race feels good, but I always knew it was there," Mancuso said. "It was just the case of being able to execute. That was a pretty solid run, I'd say. My skis were working for me."

Renate Goetschl of Austria finished second, 0.43 seconds behind. American Lindsey Kildow, the winner in Val d'Isere in 2005, was third in 1:39.47.

The top Canadian was Kelly VanderBeek of Kitchener, Ont., in seventh.

"It's my second-best downhill result ever, just behind Lake Louise where I finished sixth a few weeks ago," said VanderBeek, who also finished third in the super-G at Lake Louise earlier this season. "It just shows that I'm putting together some very consistent performances and I’m really happy about that."

As for the other Canadian starters, Emily Brydon of Fernie, B.C., finished 24th, Calgary's Sherry Lawrence tied for 34th and Britt Janyk of Whistler, B.C., was 44th.

Shona Rubens of Canmore, Alta., failed to finish the race.

Italian Nadia Fanchini broke her right wrist and was briefly knocked unconscious when she crashed near the bottom of the course. Fanchini misread a jump and spun backward before sliding headfirst into the netting.

Kildow leads the women's downhill standings with 240 points, 85 more than Goetschl.

"It was quite a good run, but there were two or three problems," Goetschl said. "On two or three gates I didn't have the perfect run. We will see if I can make that up [Wednesday]."

The women's World Cup schedule continues in Val d'Isere with another downhill Wednesday, followed by a slalom on Thursday.

With files from the Associated Press