ALPINE:

USA’s Ligety scorches 2nd run to seize gold in giant slalom

Feb. 18, 2011 — The Canadian Press     ♦ Photos: Ted Ligety tears up the GS course en route to gold (Jon Margolis, USSA.smug.com); Ligety savors the gold (USSA)

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — Ted Ligety produced a clean second run in worsening conditions and gave the United States its first gold medal of the World Championships on Friday when he won the giant slalom.

Ligety jumped from fourth to first, making virtually no mistakes on a course softened by mild weather, to edge Cyprien Richard of France by .08 seconds.

"It was nerve-wrecking for sure," Ligety said. "This slope is difficult, especially in these conditions. I thought I'd lost it. I feel so lucky to come back and win it."

Richard jumped from seventh after the first run.

"I'm savoring it even more at 32," he said. "I know why I'm here, I know where I've come from."

"I thought after the first run that I could do it, I had nothing to lose," Richard said. He won the gold with France in the team event.

Philipp Schoerghofer of Austria, second after the first run, dropped one back to take the bronze, .43 seconds behind. Ligety was timed in a combined 2 minutes, 10.56 seconds for the two runs.

"The second run was brutal," Schoerghofer said. "Ligety earned it. I was so nervous, I am glad it's over."

First-run leader Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway had to settle for fourth, while Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, the overall World Cup leader, fell from third into a tie for 13th.

"It was a little soft for me on the flats. I couldn't carry the speed from the first run," said Svindal, the super-combined champion and the Olympic bronze medallist in the giant slalom.

Ligety has won three of five giant slalom races on the World Cup circuit this season and was considered a top medal prospect. The American was Olympic champion in the combined in 2006 and won the bronze medal in the giant slalom at the worlds two years ago. Ligety has won the giant slalom World Cup title twice.

The start was moved lower on the Kandahar slope and the course shortened by nine gates to avoid fog at higher elevation.

Bode Miller of the United States had the fastest second run but finished 12th after an error-filled first heat. He will skip Sunday's slalom, the final race of the two-week championships.

Miller was 1.93 seconds off the pace in the first heat after slipping on soft snow and losing speed.

"I was skiing aggressive, and I didn't think I was taking overly too much risk," Miller said after the first run. "The place where I (messed) up was on the flats and softer snow. The snow is softening up by the minute now and I went out on the soft (stuff) and couldn't get it to come around and just fell over. When you fall over there you lose a lot of time."

Ligety was the first racer out in the opening heat, but had to deal with a rapidly deteriorating course in the second run, when the top 30 start in reverse order. Mild conditions softened the course over the past few days.

The U.S. team also has two silver medals so far at the championships ― Lindsey Vonn in the downhill and Julia Mancuso in the super-G.

Kostelic went home for a brief vacation after winning the bronze medal in the opening event, the super-G, and looked set to snatch another medal when he finished third in the first run. But he was too cautious in the second heat and was left empty-handed.

"I didn't ski well. This shorter distance between the gates, that's not my game," Kostelic said.

Kostelic's primary target for the season is winning his first overall World Cup title. The vacation, he said, was "important for later."

"We saved the body. The back and the knee (problems) are always there. It was good to save all this for later. We'll see at the finish of the World Cup. I will need some strength for the overall," Kostelic said.

Kjetil Jansrud of Norway, Olympic silver medallist, was fifth, and Thomas Fanara of France sixth.

Carlo Janka, the defending world and reigning Olympic giant slalom champion, was seventh. Janka won the giant slalom race on the same hill at the World Cup Finals last season and collected the overall title, but the Swiss has been struggling with irregular heartbeat problems all season.

Another Swiss, Didier Cuche, raced with a broken left thumb and finished eighth.

"I struggled to keep the right line in the second run. But it had nothing to do with the (broken) thumb, I had no pain," Cuche said.

No Canadians competed in the giant slalom.

2011 Alpine World Championships men's giant slalom results