Beaver Creek: Miller wins GS 1st run; Ligety 5th

Bode Miller set himself up for back-to-back World Cup wins, racing to the first-run lead of the giant slalom Saturday on Birds of Prey. American Ted Ligety was fifth and within striking distance of the podium, while veteran Erik Schlopy failed to finish.

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — Bode Miller set himself up for back-to-back World Cup wins, racing to the first-run lead of the giant slalom Saturday on Birds of Prey. American Ted Ligety was fifth and within striking distance of the podium, while veteran Erik Schlopy failed to finish.
    Miller, winner of Friday’s downhill in dramatic fashion, completed a very difficult GS run in 1 minute, 15.39 seconds, .09 ahead of Italian Massimiliano Blardone. Finland’s Kalle Palander was .24 back in fourth, Swiss skier Didier Cuche .43 back and Ligety .49 back.
    "I didn't feel the intensity and I couldn't find my rhythm. I felt like I was struggling the whole way down," Miller said.
    Seven other skiers were within a second of the top — Rainer Schoenfelder, Davide Simoncelli, Hermann Maier, Didier Defago, Giorgio Rocca, Aksel Lund Svindal and Francois Bourque.
    American Jimmy Cochran was 25th, 2.26 back, but qualified for the second run. Schlopy, fourth in last season's GS here won by Miller with Daron Rahlves second, had a nifty run going Saturday but skied out halfway down. Eleven competitors out of the first 45 did not finish, including Jake Zamansky, the defending NorAm GS champ, who crashed just a gate or two from the finish.
    Miller has 18 career GS podiums — nine wins, five second-place results and a trio of thirds. Blardone has two career GS wins and eight career GS podiums. Ligety's considered more of a slalom standout, but his first World Cup win was in a GS in South Korea last season, and a broken hand which has hindered his pole plant may help make him more of a threat in GS right now.
    “I felt pretty good,” Ligety said. “Up top I felt like I was holding back a little bit, just holding the edge. I felt like I was skiing well but not pushing down the fall line all that hard. I kind of realized that coming onto the flat I had to step it up to the next level. I just pointed ’em straight and it worked out well.
    “The main thing on a course like this, you just have to look where the rollers are where you need to go in with the direction. I had really good direction off all the rolls other than the last one — I kind of got shot off course. I mean the biggest thing on this course is all the blind turns. You have to know where you’re going, but at the same time you can’t hold back at all because once you go over a blind knoll, you’re trying to run it out into a flat and you have to carry your speed everywhere.”
    Olympic and World Cup giant slalom champion Benjamin Raich of Austria sat back in 13th, 1.01 back. "I couldn't find the right feeling. I was carving all over the pace," Raich said. "I made a couple of little mistakes and I couldn't find the best line."
    Aksel Lund Svindal, winner of Thursday’s super combined, was 11th in the first run, .85 back. “My goal was to be as fast as I possibly can today and fight for the podium,” Svindal said. “I was a little bit too slow in the first run, so I have to make up a lot of time in the second run.”
    Making progress in GS is key if the big Norwegian hopes to contend for the overall crystal globe. “I never see myself as a contestant for that [the overall], so I think Raich is a favorite and Bode. Hopefully I can keep up with those guys.”
    Olympic silver medalist Joel Chenal did not start because of a back injury, officials said.  
    Second run was set for 2 p.m. for the top 30 finishers.

— SR's Sam Flickinger and Hilary Lund contributed to this report